What is a Clinically Integrated Network (CIN)?
A Clinically Integrated Network is a collaborative system of care that brings together hospitals, their employed physicians, physicians in private practice, specialty care facilities and a variety of other health care professionals. Working together, these health care partners develop ongoing programs to improve the quality and delivery of health care services to patients, leading to higher quality, greater efficiency in care delivery and cost savings. Through the Clinically Integrated Network the care team coordinates care across the continuum of affiliated caregivers, including employed, contracted and partnered community physicians.
A Clinically Integrated Network implements evidence-based clinical protocols designed to enhance patient outcomes; establish a meaningful set of quality measures to review clinical care and improve clinical performance; achieve efficiencies in the delivery of care; and partner with insurance providers to develop contracts that drive measurable clinical improvement and add value to patients.
What are the characteristics of effective Clinically Integrated Networks?
CINs are designed to collect and share data from participating practices, hospitals and other care facilities in order to achieve higher quality and greater cost-effectiveness than they likely could accomplish on their own.
These clinical integration programs contain initiatives with measurable results of clinical performance, reduction of unnecessary service utilization and the effective management and support of high-risk patients.
What clinical initiatives will Penn State Health Partners include?
Although Penn State Health Care Partners is still in the process of developing its clinical integration programs, the focus will include:
- Chronic disease management involving but not limited to the following conditions: Diabetes, Heart Disease, multiple chronic conditions
- Coordination of care across the continuum of primary, specialty, sub-specialty care, including prevention and screening, therapy and rehabilitation services and chronic disease management
The goal of Penn State Health Care Partners is to enhance the value of the services we provide the patient, payer and employer communities, measuring effectiveness using data from various sources, including clinical quality measures, insurance claims, disease registries, pharmacy benefit systems, and hospital and ambulatory electronic medical record (EMR) systems
What will physicians need to do in order to participate in Penn State Health Care Partners?
Invitation for membership in Penn State Health Care Partners is open to physicians who meet the CIN’s requirements and choose to apply. Physicians must agree to hold themselves and each other accountable for delivering high-quality, cost-effective care in compliance with the initiatives of Penn State Health Care Partners.
Participation involves the signing of a formal agreement that helps to ensure collaboration among physicians and other health care providers in the development, adoption and measurement of clinical programs designed to enhance patient care quality, service and cost-effectiveness.