Many trauma program managers and directors are unsure how trauma fits in the new world of value-based care. How do industry leaders and third-party payers define value? What can trauma programs do to increase the value of the care they provide?
Quinn McKenna, chief operating officer at University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics, addressed these and other questions during a session at the 2016 Annual Conference of the Trauma Center Association of America.
“The concept of high-value healthcare is all about providing the highest value to our communities and our payer partners,” McKenna said during a separate interview. “That means delivering the highest quality care as cost effectively as possible. And that includes providing the best patient experience.”
According to McKenna, one area where trauma programs can increase value is care coordination. “In a trauma program, you have multiple teams taking part in patient care — trauma surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons and many others,” he said. “The issue is that each of these groups may come in for only a part of the patient’s total care.”
“Historically, we have often seen ‘gaps’ between the care delivered by these different groups,” McKenna said. “When care is disjointed in this way, the program is not delivering high-value care to the patient.”
McKenna described how trauma leaders at the University of Utah addressed this problem. “We added an advanced practice clinician model to the trauma program to serve as a bridge between the different services,” he said. In this model, five APCs coordinate care for injured patients. They also facilitate training for both nursing staff and residents, facilitate quality improvement projects and educate patients.
“By adding these resources, the trauma program is tying together the care provided by all the different services,” McKenna said. This model has the potential to improve patient outcomes while controlling costs. “It has also created a better patient experience by delivering more consistent care.”
McKenna encourages trauma program leaders to focus on initiatives that support larger value-based goals. “Program leaders should strive to understand where their hospital or system is going as an organization,” he said. “The next step is to ask, How can we be part of that?”