Independent Physicians' Support Group to Launch in MI

The University of Michigan Health System and Physicians' Organization of Western Michigan have formed a new statewide group to help independent physicians improve access to resources, opportunities and support during the implementation of healthcare reform.

The new group—Physician Organization of Michigan—will recruit members from across the state when it becomes operational in January.

"We're very pleased to be able to expand and strengthen our abilities to support the independent practice of medicine through this relationship," says Randall Clark, MD, president of POM, an independent practice association which has 570 physician shareholders in western Michigan.

According to Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, U-M executive vice president for medical affairs and CEO of UMHS, POM's aims to help independent physician members:

• Improve and measure quality of the care
• Monitor patients' health more effectively
• Reduce or contain the growth of healthcare costs
• Help physicians gain access to shared technology systems
• Help patients receive primary care in their communities
• Facilitate access to specialty care.
• Access continuing medical education for physicians

"This concept of the right care, at the right place, and at the right time fits perfectly with our health system's goal of serving the entire state, by being available for any Michigander who needs the advanced care that U-M physicians provide," Hirsch Pescovitz, says.

UMHS includes a 1,600-member multispecialty physician group, with faculty from the U-M Medical School who practice at U-M hospitals and health centers, and at partner locations across the state. POM is the latest in a series of UMHS partnerships, which also includes the Pennant Health Alliance, a recently announced partnership among four western Michigan hospitals and UMHS.

POM members can become a "Colleague in Care," which gives them full access to a clinically integrated network of physicians with EHR, business and marketing support, and systems to track quality. In return, each Colleague in Care agrees to meet standards for ongoing education, care quality tracking and reporting, and other metrics.

"The vision is that POM will offer independent physicians and medical groups access to information technology and administrative and clinical services they need to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing environment without the need for employment by a large system," says David Spahlinger, MD, executive director of the U-M group practice and senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the U-M Medical School.

POM will be based in Grand Rapids.