You’re probably all familiar with the concept of the “Triple Aim” © which was first introduced by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2007. The goal of the triple aim is to provide a framework for a healthcare system focused not on volume, but on improved quality of care and patient satisfaction, better health outcomes for the population and reduced costs. With 46% of U.S. physicians now experiencing symptoms of “burnout”, there is a renewed focus on physician well-being as being a component of what is now being referred to as the “Quadruple Aim”.

You’re probably also familiar with the many contributing causes to physician burnout – a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion and depersonalization; a feeling of reduced personal accomplishment, loss of work fulfillment, and reduced effectiveness:

• Too many regulations
• Excessive hours worked
• Convoluted health care reform laws
• Lack of professional fulfillment
• Implementation of MACRA
• Work-life imbalance
• Reimbursement challenges
• EHRs that take away from patient time
• Prior authorization
• Quality reporting
• Onerous recertification requirements

The Alliance’s performance in MSSP, Bundled Payments for Care Improvement, Million Hearts and value-based contracts all attest to our commitment to population health and the Triple Aim. But, perhaps, what has not been as well recognized, has been our commitment to improving the Physician Practice Experience and, thereby, fostering the Quadruple Aim as well. Here are some examples:

• Relieving your burden of yearly PQRS/Quality Reporting
• Significantly easing your burden of participation in MACRA
• Supporting the care of your patients via collaboration with Alliance RNs
• Providing multiple sources of support for your practice revenue (enhanced commercial contracts, PMPM payments, Advanced APM bonuses, QuE payments, Million Hearts Model payments, ECC and 4C care coordination payments)
• Relieving you of the stress of commercial payer negotiations
• Decreasing the administrative burden of participation in Alliance care coordination programs

With regards to the latter, we have our new ECC (NGACO Medicare lives) and 4C (commercial lives) care coordination programs which include monitoring practice performance via claims which significantly decreases your responsibility for documentation. Details of these programs are provided in the "Care Coordination Team Update" column in this newsletter.

The Alliance is keenly aware of the additional burdens being placed on practices as the U.S. health care system transitions from volume- to value-based care. We feel that it is one of our obligations to try to “lighten your load” administratively while enhancing the value of care you provide and thus improve your practice experience and advance the “Quadruple Aim”.