MDNews - Central New York

D AVID T. PAGE, MD, a family phy- sician in Camillus, is learning first-hand all about the federal government's accountable care organization (ACO) initiative. He is Medical Director of the Family Care Medical Group's Medicare ACO and for 17 years had been president of the group, the largest private primary care practice in Onondaga County. Dr. Page spends 15 hours per week on his ACO duties while continuing his full load of treating other patients. In its second year, the local ACO serves 16,000 patients. Ninety-five percent of Family Care Medical Group's patients eligible to be part of the ACO choose to do so. Dr. Page said his ACO work is an educational process for his physician col- leagues and him. The federal government's challenge for ACOs is to improve patient outcomes and control costs. Dr. Page opted to be part of the ACO movement because the trend nationally and in New York state is moving from traditional fee-for-service to a new reimbursement model. ACOs authorized by the Affordable Care Act offer physicians the opportunity to share in savings their ACO produces. The Family Care Medical Group ACO has not reached the point where it is eligible for any savings. However, Dr. Page is optimistic that will be achieved in the not-too-distant future. This will be a major accomplishment since healthcare costs in Onondaga County are widely recognized as being among the lowest in the Northeast. His ACO is one of three in the Collaborative Health Systems, headquartered in White Plains. The other two are in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley. Dr. Page said his ACO uses nurses for home visits, which has proven to be an effective way to ensure patient compliance with what physicians have recommended. Under consideration is employment of social workers. Last year, the local ACO medical director worked successfully with the governmental team of the Medical Society of the State of New York to make sure that proposed New York State ACO legislation would not conflict with the federal ACO legislation and regulations. Of great importance was heading off any language that would eliminate the federa l Sa fe Harbor protection for physicians. For more than 10 years, Dr. Page has been heavily involved in the Health Care Collaborative of Central New York (HAC-CNY). HAC-CNY's board of directors includes physicians and hospital administrators plus representatives of insurers, businesses and consumers. Its subsidiary, HealtheConnections, the area's regional health information organization (RHIO), has been successful, with the help of Dr. Page and others, in promoting greater use of electronic records and the sharing of this vital information. Dr. Page has been a leading advocate for the use of EHRs. He engineered his practice's transfer to the new technology nearly 10 years ago. On top of his other duties and activities, he is a past president of the Onondaga County Medical Society. Gerald N. (Jerry) Hoffman was chief executive officer of the Onondaga County Medical Society from 1981 to January 31, 2014, and is coauthor of two books, Medical Malpractice Insurance: A Legislator's View, and The History of Local Medical Care, 1806-2006. ■ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++ + +++ + ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ HEALTHCARE PERSPECTIVE A Local Look at ACOs By Jerry Hoffman M D N E W S . CO M ■ MD NEWS Central New York | 5

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