Moving from “Reporting on” to “Leading” Healthcare – A Conversation with Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright, President & CEO of MGMA

In Chapter 3 of Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright’s new book Back to Balance, she writes: “People are increasingly being treated as if they are the same. Science and data are being used to decrease variability in an attempt to get doctors to treat patients in predictable ways.” This statement is Fischer-Wright’s way of saying that the current focus on standardization of healthcare processes in the quest to reduce costs and increase quality may not be the brass ring we should be striving for. She believes that a balance is needed between healthcare standardization and the fact that each patient is a unique individual.

As president of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), a role Fischer-Wright has held since 2015, she is uniquely positioned to see first-hand the impact standardization (from both legislative and technological forces) has had on the medical profession. With over 40,000 members, MGMA represents many of America’s physician practices – a group particularly hard hit over the past few years by the technology compliance requirements of Meaningful Use and changes to reimbursements.

For many physician practices Meaningful Use has turned out to be more of a compliance program rather than an incentive program. To meet the program’s requirements, physicians have had to alter their workflows and documentation approaches. Complying with the program and satisfying the reporting requirements became the focus, which Fischer-Wright believes is a terrible unintended consequence.

“We have been so focused on standardizing the way doctors work that we have taken our eyes off the real goal,” said Fischer-Wright in and interview with HealthcareScene. “As physicians our focus needs to be on patient outcomes not whether we documented the encounter in a certain way. In our drive to mass standardization, we are in danger of ingraining the false belief that populations of patients behave in the same way and can be treated through a single standardized treatment regimen. That’s simply not the case. Patients are unique.”

Achieving a balance in healthcare will not be easy – a sentiment that permeates Back to Balance, but Fischer-Wright is certain that healthcare technology will play a key role: “We need HealthIT companies to stop focusing just on what can be done and start working on enabling what needs to be done. Physicians want to leverage technology to deliver better care to patient at a lower cost, but not at the expense of the patient/physician relationship. Let’s stop building tools that force doctors to stare at the computer screen instead of making eye contact with their patients.”

To that end, Fischer-Wright issued a friendly challenge to the vendors in the MGMA17 exhibit hall: “Create products and services that physicians actually enjoy using. Help reduce barriers between physician, patients and between healthcare organizations. Empower care don’t detract from it.”

She went on to say that MGMA itself will be stepping up to help champion the cause of better HealthIT for patients AND physicians. In fact, Fischer-Wright was excited to talk about the new direction for MGMA as an organization. For most of its history, MGMA has reported on the healthcare industry from a physician practice perspective. Over the past year with the help of a supportive Board of Directors and active members, the MGMA leadership team has begun to shift the organization to a more prominent leadership role.

“We are going to take a much more active role in healthcare. We are going to focus on fixing healthcare from the ground up –  from providers & patients upwards. In the next few years MGMA will be much bigger, much strong and even more relevant to physician practices. We are forging partnerships with other key players in healthcare, federal/state/local governments and other associations/societies.“

Members should expect more conferences, more educational opportunities and more publications on a more frequent basis from MGMA going forward. Fischer-Wright also hinted at several new technology-related offerings but opted not to provide details. Looking at the latest news from MGMA on their revamped data-gathering/analytics, however, it would not be surprising if their new offerings were data related. MGMA is one of the few organizations that regularly collects information on and provides context on the state of physician practices in the US.

It will be exciting to watch MGMA evolve in the years ahead.

About the author

Colin Hung

Colin Hung is the co-founder of the #hcldr (healthcare leadership) tweetchat one of the most popular and active healthcare social media communities on Twitter. Colin speaks, tweets and blogs regularly about healthcare, technology, marketing and leadership. He is currently an independent marketing consultant working with leading healthIT companies. Colin is a member of #TheWalkingGallery. His Twitter handle is: @Colin_Hung.

   

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