Looking Ahead to a New Year

While we just turned the page of our calendars to a new year, GBMC is actually half way through its fiscal year. In 2014, we have much to look forward to as we stay in action on change with an operating plan that moves us toward our vision and the achievement of our four aims.

In the second half of our fiscal year, we will continue to build the patient-centered medical home. I am excited to see this really come alive this year as we begin construction on the new Family Care Associates office – the first office specifically designed as a patient-centered medical home. Our patients can also expect to see us continue to expand office hours in many of our primary care practices to better serve our patients.

Here’s what else we can look forward to in the coming months at GBMC:

• We will build on our success in 2013 and continue the strengthening of our outstanding surgical services at GBMC. We are delighted that Orthopedic Specialists of Maryland have now joined Greater Baltimore Medical Associates!
• Greater Baltimore Health Alliance will be reflecting on how healthy our patients are by disease state through the development of patient registries for chronic conditions such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. These patient registries will help our practices better coordinate and manage the care of patients with chronic diseases.
• We are gearing up our employee wellness initiative to make it easier for our employees to get healthier, and stay healthy.
• We will be working to develop tighter and richer connections with other care providers such as our partners at Johns Hopkins Healthcare to give GBMC’s Accountable Care Organization - GBHA- the ability to provide even better, more coordinated care to our patients.
• We will be taking GBHA to the next level as a contracting entity beyond just the Medicare Shared Savings Program in 2014. We will be inviting specialist physicians on our medical staff to formally join GBHA so we can contract for them.
• We are excited about hosting a special breakfast meeting in March to introduce GBMC’s transformation as a healthcare system to business owners in Baltimore County.
• We are also excited about completing our negotiations with the Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) on their new payment model that will pay us on a global budget. This provides us with the opportunity to deploy resources where people need it most, coordinate patient’s care, keep people healthier and keep people out of the hospital when this is possible.

As we begin a new calendar year and continue to forge ahead with this fiscal year, there’s much to be excited about as we work even harder toward achieving our vision.

What do you look forward to from the GBMC system in 2014?