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S E N I O R W E L C O M E

Health system relies on redesign, APNs and PAs to relieve doctor shortage Texas H e a lth R esources a n d Texas H e a lth P h ysicia n s G ro up a re o p e n in g e ld e rly fr ie n d ly c lin ic s s ta ffe d m a in ly b y n o n p h y s ic ia n ca re g ive rs

T o h e lp th e g ro w in g n u m b e r of e ld e rly

struggling to find e a sy acce ss to m e d i­

c a l c a re d u e to a p h y s ic ia n sh o rta g e

in t h e D a lla s a r e a , o n e lo c a l h e a lth

sy ste m h a s o p e n e d clin ics fe a tu rin g im p o rta n t

d e ta ils d e s ig n e d to g iv e M e d ic a re p a tie n ts a

safe, c o m fo rta b le e x p erien ce.

L a st J u ly , T e x a s H e a lth R e s o u rc e s a n d

T e x a s H e a lth P h y s ic ia n s G r o u p , A r lin g to n ,

b e g a n o p e n in g th e first o f th e n e w clin ic s for

p atie n ts 65 a n d o lder o n T exas H e a lth 's cam p u s

in B u rleso n , a su b u rb of F o rt W o rth , w ith th e

se c o n d fo llo w in g in A u g u st in P la n o . A th ird

clinic is p la n n e d for A rlington la te r th is y ear.

The Texas Health "Your Health Centers" will

offer primary and preventive care and will be staffed

b y certified nurse practitioners and physician assis­

tants, w ith each clinic being supervised b y a p h y ­

sician medical director, says Shaw n Parsley, D.O.,

president, Texas Health Physicians Group.

"T h is w a s a p r o je c t fo r o u r p h y s ic ia n s '

g r o u p to t r y to so lv e th e p r o b le m o f la c k of

access to h e a lth care fo r M e d icare p a tie n ts,” h e

sa y s. “T h e p ro b le m w a s id e n tifie d b y a n u m ­

b e r o f M e d icare p a tie n ts w h o w e re d isc h arg ed

fro m one o f o u r hospitals a n d re p o rte d th a t th e y

c o u ld n 't get follow -up care."

T h e h e a lth c a re sy s te m a n d p h y s ic ia n s '

g ro u p m a d e su re th a t th e clinics w e re designed

to be senior-friendly, accessible a n d safe. "There

a re a lot of things in reg u lar doctors' offices th at

d o n ’t flow w ell for an older patient,” Parsley says.

D a n Varga, M .D ., chief clinical officer an d

se n io r e x e c u tiv e vice p r e s id e n t, T ex as H e a lth

R e sources, th in k s th e m o d e l w o u ld w o rk e lse­

w h e re b e cau se it is c are-cen tered w ith o u t being

physician-reliant. T he u se o f n u rse p ractitio n e rs

a n d p h y sic ia n a ssista n ts w ill allo w longer, less

costly v isits th a t w ill give clin ician s th e o p p o r­

tu n ity to k n o w th e ir p a tie n ts b etter.

P arsley says th e n u m b e r of se n io r c en ters

to b e o p en ed is u n certain for n o w b u t th e fu tu re

locations w ill follow th e sam e guidelines. “W e 're

lo o k in g a t e x p a n d in g to re g io n a l a re a s w h e r e

M edicare patients are u n d erserv ed b y traditional

m ed ical offices," h e says. - b y JEFF FER EN C •

T e x a s H e a l t h

R e s o u r c e s a n d U T

S o u t h w e s t e r n f o r m

c l i n i c a l n e t w o r k

T exas Health Resources, sep­

arately announced plans to

partner w ith one of its com­

p etitors, UT Southw estern

M edical Center. Together, the new

network, called Southwestern Health

Resources, w ill comprise 27 hospi­

tals and an “ expansive” netw ork

of about 3 ,0 0 0 physicians across

northern Texas.

All to ld , th e new su p ersystem

w ill serve 16 n orth T exas c o u n tie s

and 7 million residents. Daniel Podol­

sky, M .D ., president o f UT Southwest­

ern, says the move came am id o th er

such c o n s o lid a tio n in T e x a s a n d

acro ss th e n a tio n , a lo n g w ith th e

g ro w in g d e m a n d from p a tie n ts to

p ro vid e th e w h o le g a m u t o f h ealth

c a re s e r v ic e s in a c o o r d i n a t e d ,

affo rd ab le fashion.

“ W e s e e t h e l a n d s c a p e o f

h ealth care d elivery and th e expec­

ta tio n s o f s ta k e h o ld e rs e v olving in

im p ortan t and significant w a y s,” he

says. “Those e x p e c ta tio n s in clu d e

th e a b ility to p ro vid e th e fu ll c o n ­

tinuum of care, as w ell as delivering

g re a te r v a lu e in term s o f e fficiency,

s a fe t y a n d q u a lit y o f o u tc o m e s .

To a d e g re e , th e re fo re , you n eed a

b re a d th o f c o m p e te n c ie s , b ut also

scale, as p ay m e n t m o d els in c re as ­

ingly move tow ard putting the risk on

the provider.” - m a r t y S T E M P N iA K •

2 0 H&HN / NOVEMBER 2015 / www.hhnmag.com P h o t o g r a p h s c o u r t e s y o f T e x a s H e a l t h R e s o u r c e s

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