TransforMED Launches Interactive Physician Networking Site

TransforMED LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians, has launched Delta-Exchange, a social networking site that primary care physicians can use to speed up their progress toward practice transformation and the patient-centered medical home.

TransforMED created Delta-Exchange in the wake of its two-year national demonstration project, or NDP, which tested how to implement various components of the medical home model of care.

"We started ... assisting practices with 'boots-on-the-ground' full facilitation in the NDP in 2006," said Terry McGeeney, M.D., M.B.A., TransforMED's president and CEO. However, the company found that this type of facilitation was labor intensive and expensive; it has been tweaking and perfecting its educational outreach to physicians ever since. The result is Delta-Exchange.

"We listened to physicians across the country, and this is what they said they wanted -- a solution that is cheap, doesn't require a long-term commitment and lets practices 'dip a toe in the water' to get a feel for practice transformation," said McGeeney.

He described Delta-Exchange as a "virtual, online learning community." The $30-per-month Delta Exchange member fee includes access to a variety of tools including

Members can sign up for online discussions in separate work zones, including in zones for physicians, clinical staff members, office staff members and residency programs. Users also can set up a notification system that will track specific discussions and topics.

According to TransforMED, the site is very user-friendly. "We want people to get in and get started without a steep learning curve," said Nathan Bieck, TransforMED's marketing coordinator and chief architect of the site. "We know physicians are very busy, and the last thing we wanted to do was to create something that was hard for them."

The site has been under construction since last winter and has 241 "test" members who have been putting the exchange through its paces. Gregg Stefanek, D.O., of Alma, Mich., is one such user. Stefanek describes his practice -- Gratiot Family Practice -- as a medical home that is "under construction."

The four-physician practice soon will have a new building, and the partners wanted an office design that was medical-home friendly. After several Internet searches, Stefanek found the help he needed on Delta-Exchange.

"I went to the Delta-Exchange group, typed in a query and got several responses that were very useful," said Stefanek. "Then I came across a webinar that specifically talked about construction of a facility based on the (patient-centered medical home) model."

Stefanek noted that he is fully engaged in the medical home process and has access to a bevy of resources, which makes him a finicky consumer.

"It's not a lack of information out there that's preventing me from being a full patient-centered medical home; it's the lack of time on my part to find these things," said Stefanek. "(Delta-Exchange) is a resource that helps me focus my time. It's convenient and pertinent."

Stefanek added that he also enjoys the camaraderie of sharing common experiences with his colleagues on Delta-Exchange. "We're all in this together, and I really like that portion of it."