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"Dr. Anderson has found an excellent way to improve care, increase revenue and increase patient volume without burning out the physician or sacrificing quality. Following Ken Terry's article my wife and I visited Dr. Anderson's office. We were very impressed at the quality and efficiency of his practice. His patients and staff love the system.
Our own practice is one of 36 demonstration practices nationwide in the American Academy of Family Physicians' TransforMed study. We think Dr. Anderson's team approach to practice represents a necessary and desired improvement to the way medicine is practiced. It allows the doctor to concentrate on decision making rater than on data gathering. It makes the nurses' and MA's jobs more satisfying and it improves patient flow.
The future of medicine depends on visionary doctors, like Dr. Anderson, who put in the hard work of testing and refining good ideas."
- Bill Harrington, MD
Sommerville Family Practice, PC
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Focusing on Time Essentials and Avoiding the Time Trap
Traditionally, the family physician conducts 95% of the patient visit. With Team Care, the same doctor does 20-50% of the patient visit. That translates to more quality time with and better care for the patient.
The heart of this innovation of Team Care is the developing of an assistant who is capable of taking and documenting a complete patient history for the visit. Collecting and recording a patient's complete medical history is time intensive - usually the longest part of the visit.
Most patient visits can be broken down into four discrete components. The basis for the Family Team Care is that a well-trained assistant can readily perform the information gathering and communication function (Part 1) and implement a plan and provide effective patient education (Part 4). In this model, the physician would then be able to focus on analysis of the data and the physical exam (Part 2) as well as carry out the required decision making and development of a treatment plan (Part 3).
Most Patient Visits Can be Broken Down into Four (4) Discrete Components:
Part 1: Data gathering and communication of the data.
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Part 2: Analysis of data and pertinent physical exam.
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Part 3: Decision making and development
of a plan.
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Part 4: Implementation
of the plan and patient
education.
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By removing the physician from the parts of the visit not requiring his/her expertise, the family physician has more time to do what only he or she can do. This allows the doctor to see more patients without sacrificing quality of care or patient satisfaction.
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