Busy physicians know that they can only do so much individually. Some health care problems are systemic issues. It takes a lot of people working together to tackle those. It takes a village, if you will.
Individual pediatricians have been leading the way in developing some very encouraging collaborative, community-based programs to bolster “medical homes” for children, and especially to improve asthma care. Dr. Tom Peterson has championed one such project in Grand Rapids, Mich. It has brought more financial resources to physicians while decreasing children’s emergency visits by 12% and reducing hospitalizations by 14%. It’s been so successful that other counties in Michigan are copying it. See my full story for more.
Photo credit: Sherry Boschert
Dr. Tom Peterson
Dr. Peterson modeled the Children’s Healthcare Access Program in Grand Rapids after a similar program that was started at Denver Children’s Hospital. He told me that in all the initiatives like this that he’s aware of, the effort starts with the actions of a single pediatrician who gets the ball rolling.
It takes a village, but it starts with individuals. Hats off to the docs who find time to take care of patients and to address the systemic needs.
