GW Health Network, the George Washington University’s (GW) new accountable care organization (ACO), will ensure patients receive the highest quality care possible and that students learn how to use population health management.
Through the new initiative, the GW Medical Faculty Associates (MFA) and GW Hospital will “strengthen the relationships between patients and providers to promote wellness and better chronic disease management,” said Kimberly Russo, MBA, MS, CEO of GW Hospital.
In addition, students at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, as well as residents, interns, and fellows, will learn about the value of ACOs in class, and, once they start rotations in the hospital, will have the opportunity to see how the system works firsthand.
Lessons will be taught using specific cases seen at the hospital or MFA via the ACO; if the data reveal a quality gap, students can use their knowledge and critical thinking to come up with a way to solve the problem.
The data mined from the ACO also will be used to look at quality measures, specifically admissions for chronic conditions, says William Borden, MD, MBA, who is leading the GW Health Network. GW Hospital sees a high rate of readmissions of patients suffering from multiple chronic conditions, he notes, and a goal of the hospital and the MFA is to use ACO principles and data to identify ways to best help patients and keep those readmissions to a minimum.
