Participants in the North Carolina Medical Society Foundation’s (NCMSF) Community Practitioner Program (CPP) came together at their Annual Meeting on Oct. 23 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro to hear from several guest speakers on timely issues facing clinicians.
The theme running throughout the meeting was the transition to a value-based model of care, and the challenges and opportunities that come with such a change. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) are built on a quality and value-based framework and Franklin Walker, NCMSF Director of Rural Health Initiatives was pleased to tell the 29 CPP’ers in attendance that the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust had awarded the NCMSF a $440,500 grant to help fund the NCMSF’s Rural ACO Initiative. CPP practices are the foundation for this initiative, which will provide resources to small, rural practices seeking to make the oftentimes costly and labor intensive transition to an ACO model. [Read more about the grant in this edition of the Bulletin.]
Karen Cannon MD, CPE, Chief Medical Operations Officer, CHESS, spoke on the transition to ICD-10, which thus far has been smooth and will provide a greater depth of data necessary as practices make the move to value based models of care.  Genie Komives, MD, Senior Medical Director, Duke Connected Care addressed issues around payment reforms, specifically bundled payments and Lisa Shock, PA-C, Director of Care Transformation, CHESS spoke about population health, one of the three goals that make up the Triple Aim in value-based health care. The other two parts of the Triple Aim are cost efficiency and patient experience.
North Carolina Medical Society (NCMS) Director of Health Policy Jennifer Gasperini provided an overview of provisions in the federal Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) affecting their practices. MACRA is the legislation adopted when Congress ended the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for Medicaid.
The CPP was founded 26 years ago with the aim of helping medically underserved communities across North Carolina attract and retain needed medical practitioners. The program helps practitioners pay off their medical education loans while they serve their community. Learn more.

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) offers this list of ACO principles:

  • Multispecialty Medical Groups and Other Organized Care Systems Make the Strongest Foundation
  • ACOs Must Be Physician-Led
  • ACOs Must Be Held Accountable for Clinical Results & Cost Efficiencies in the Community
  • ACO Incentives Must Be Aligned to Foster Voluntary Participation
  • ACOs Must Have a Primary Care Core
  • ACOs Should Be “Learning Organizations” That Use Data to Improve Efficiency and Safety of Care

Read more.