Change is hard. The critical strategic question for any organization is: Can we get to where we need to be by running harder, or do we have to change?

Coastal Medical is Rhode Island’s largest physician owned and governed primary care driven Accountable Care Organization (ACO). Coastal is focused specifically on managing the quality, cost and experience of health care for their population of 120,000 patients across Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts. The group is comprised of 111 providers, complemented by 450 support staff in 20 medical practices state-wide. Coastal Medical practices are NCQA level 3 recognized and the group has won numerous awards for innovation in health care; including the prestigious HIMSS Davies Ambulatory Award.

When Coastal Medical began the transitioning from traditional primary care practices to patient centered medical homes they set a goal: to design the primary care practice of the future. Using Nayar’s model, Coastal soon understood they were set up in a way that truly supported the envisioned new primary care model. Workflows and processes were antiquated and actually got in the way of the new work. Not enough resources were allocated to this new work. In response, Coastal created office based leadership teams and ad hoc committees to look at the processes that support the strategic plan of patient centered care. All employees were invited to be involved in the effort to empower everyone to contribute to a solution. Medical assistants and administrative assistants sat side-by-side nurse care managers and pharmacists. Physicians and office managers led the teams and valued everyone’s input.

This webinar will share the progress of this transition to date…the hurdles and successes in Coastal’s efforts to embrace change.