Thinking beyond the electronic chart: Optimizing your practice with panel management

Session
Primary and ambulatory care

Authors
Gerard F Livaudais
Acting PIC
Kaiser Pemanente Hawaii Region

Jay Post
Director Management Engineering
Kaiser Permanente

Description
The electronic medical record is a great advancemen, but is limited to managing only one patient at a time. In this presentation the speaker describes a new approach to practice called panel management which enables him to provide better, more proactive care to all his panel members while simultaneously creating a more rewarding practice.

Abstract
At Kaiser Permanente, Hawaii, the new approach to physician practice is being employed shifts the PCP's focus from completing their daily schedule to proactively owning and managing their whole panel.

The key enabler is the panel support tool. With it, providers have the capability to quickly and easily assess the health needs of any single member or any cross-section of the physician's panel, using evidenced-based systems of care.

A key advantage of the PST is its ability to calculate and track care gaps. The care gap is a numerical score representing the difference between required care and provided care.

The benefits and savings from the panel support tool are significant. They include:

Avoidance of expensive acute care
Elimination of costly waste
More effective use of staff time
Increased member, physician, and staff retention
Better use of less expensive associate and support providers
Less reliance on the resource-intensive clinic visit
Greater involvement of staff on managing resource costs
Better overall delivery of quality care

The panel support tool has been adopted across the Hawaii region and is used by more then 300 physicians.