Terry McGeeney, M.D., is fired up and ready to multitask. McGeeney recently was appointed CEO of AAFP's new subsidiary company, TransforMED Inc., based in Leawood, Kan. McGeeney's appointment allows the Academy to move forward with implementing its vision of a resource center to help FPs move their practices toward the new model of family medicine. TransforMED, formerly known as the Practice Resource Center, fulfills that desire.
It's critical that the Academy provide members the tools they need to transform their practices into the new model of care described in the Future of Family Medicine Report, said McGeeney, and that's just what this company can do. The timing is right for the company's birth, he says, because "family medicine and even health care in America are at a critical crossroads … the external environment is dictating our path."
McGeeney's first task as TransforMED's CEO is to create and implement a national demonstration project that will help practices move toward FFM objectives. McGeeney calls the endeavor "an ongoing lab project to learn how to implement all of the tenets of the FFM report in various practice environments." A total of 20 member practices will be selected -- with the help of a national practice advisory committee yet to be chosen -- to participate in the 30-month project.
The timeline? McGeeney wants to solicit practices for the demonstration project by early November (watch AAFP News Now for that announcement), select practices by February and have the project up and running by early summer.
A second endeavor for TransforMED -- that of mentoring family physicians who already are committed to adopting tenets of the FFM report -- will run concurrently with the demonstration project. "Hopefully, by next summer we'll have a program in place to evaluate those practices' needs and be ready to assist them in implementing components that they don't already have," said McGeeney. These services will involve a fee.
TransforMED also plans on developing prepackaged products and services that may help improve patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction and a practice's bottom line. These would be sold initially to members and eventually to other primary care physicians. "We're not going to just tell members what we think they need and want," said McGeeney. TransforMED will do a nationwide market survey and ask them.
What kind of help might physicians expect to purchase from TransforMED?
A variety of services, said McGeeney, including
- assistance in implementing an electronic health record,
- help in setting up open-access scheduling,
- advice on how to improve a practice's bottom line,
- access to cost data comparisons between similar practices,
- coaching on how to develop a basket-of-services approach and
- assistance in moving to a more patient-focused practice.
McGeeney praised the work the AAFP has already done in the area of quality improvement and change management, including efforts by the Center for Health Information Technology and AAFP's Quality Initiative.
A good number of programs already have been developed to help members redesign their practices, said McGeeney. "TransforMED is going to create a mechanism to roll those ideas out to the masses. The goal is to wrap all of these services together in one big bow."
From its inception, family medicine has been an innovator, said McGeeney, and the specialty needs to continue on that course by transforming itself. "This is a tremendous opportunity for family medicine," he said. "Things will not always be smooth, not always be perfect, but we absolutely must succeed at this."
