Physicians' Role in Health Reform:
The Journey to Improving the Delivery of Care

1.12.2010 SPEAKER: Gene Lindsey, MD, President and CEO, Atrius Health and Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates MODERATOR: Ronald Dixon, MD, MA, Associate Medical Director, MGH Beacon Hill Internal Medicine Associates; Director, Virtual Practice Project, Massachusetts General Hospital

Forum Summary

Medical care delivery in the United States is plagued by problems related to limited access, fragmentation, and inequality.  The majority of premature deaths in this country can be attributed to behavioral patterns, social circumstances, and environmental factors.  Doctors spend little time with patients, and the current fee-for-service system of reimbursement does not reward doctors for pushing patients to make healthier decisions.  In the past, healthcare shifted from the hospital to the office setting, and now it needs to shift to the home environment, where patients spend the majority of their time. 

            Atrius Health is seeking to improve the quality of care that it delivers by engaging the people who actually deliver care.  The organization’s philosophy is that the person doing a job probably has the best ideas about how to do it better.  By soliciting input from its employees, Atrius Health showed that the efficiency of throughput in its orthopedic department could be improved by thirty percent.  The three-year goal of the organization is to accomplish twenty percent more for patients without spending additional money.  It believes that technological solutions combined with stakeholder engagement will lead to sustainable improvements in care delivery.

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