New Year Cements Affiliation For Tri-County Docs
Physicians group partners with Partners
Tri-County Medical Associates Inc., a practice group of about 67 doctors, is now affiliated with Boston-based Partners Community Healthcare Inc., the largest doctors group in the state. Partners was founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Thanks to the affiliation, doctors that are part of Tri-County Medical will be able to benefit from better reimbursement rates from Tufts Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Blue Cross and Blue Shield, according to Phil Ciaramicoli, president of Tri-County Medical.
Proactive Docs
That's because Partners uses what is known in the health care industry as a "pay-for-performance model," which requires doctors to meet specific benchmarks in patient care.
Pay-for-performance "is where the industry is going," said Ciaramicoli.
As a result of the new pay-for-performance standard, Ciaramicoli said Tri-County Medical has brought on a new RN care coordinator who will help identify high-risk patients by looking at claims data.
"It's really proactive health care," he said.
Also in preparation for the new affiliation, Tri-County Medical has equipped nearly all of its 15 primary care sites with electronic medical records, which was required by Partners.
"Now, you're going to see the physician walking into the examining room with a tablet, with all the patient's history right there," he said. "It's incredible to have all this data in one spot."
Previously, Tri-County was affiliated with the Greater Milford Health Alliance.
The board of Tri-County Medical agreed to be affiliated with Partners Community Healthcare in June of last year, but the agreement didn't take effect until the new year, according to Meg Costello, vice president for network operations for Partners.
The affiliation was a natural course to pursue, according to Ciaramicoli, in light of the new Dana Farber and Brigham and Women's Cancer Center at Milford Regional Medical Center. Tri-County Medical is a subsidiary of Milford Regional.
Tri-County Medical's primary care sites are in Bellingham, Franklin, Hopedale, Hopkinton, Medway, Milford and Whitinsville.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments