Improving our approach to preventive care
Many components of the chronic care model can be successfully applied to preventive care, evidence shows. Here’s how to do more with the resources you have.
Growing emphasis on quality
Systemic changes in the US health care system are occurring rapidly, with an emphasis on quality and improved outcomes. Many physicians are now required to submit data to external agencies for payment, and much of the data is grounded in preventive standards. Medicare’s Physicians Quality Reporting System requires that all Medicare providers provide data on preventive and chronic illness care. Rates of vaccination, obesity screening, and tobacco use screening are examples of preventive services that will be reported publicly on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Physician Compare Web site.38
Physicians who work in accountable care organizations are required to meet quality standards on the delivery of certain preventive services, including breast cancer screening, colorectal cancer screening, influenza and pneumonia immunization, body mass index screening and follow-up, tobacco use screening and cessation intervention, screening for high blood pressure and followup, and screening for clinical depression and follow-up.39 As patients discover that the Affordable Care Act mandates that preventive services be covered with no cost sharing, they are likely to become more receptive to physician attempts to provide them.40,41
CORRESPONDENCE
Gerald Liu, MD, 1504 Springhill Avenue, Suite 3414, Mobile, AL 36604-3207; gliu@health.southalabama.edu
