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Friday, December 12, 2014 - Roper St. Francis Physicians Partners Launches Patient-Centered Medical Home

Roper St. Francis Physicians Partners Launches Patient-Centered Medical Home for BlueCross, BlueChoice Patients

Columbia, S.C. and Charleston, S.C. – As part of a national trend to implement best practices, improve quality and lower health care costs, Roper St. Francis Physicians Partners has initiated a new model in health care – a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) – for BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina and BlueChoice HealthPlan of South Carolina patients.

Established with support from BlueCross and BlueChoice®, the program is available to BlueCross and BlueChoice patients who have diabetes, hypertension and/or heart failure. Of their current patient population, this includes more than 9,000 BlueCross and BlueChoice members. The PCMH also is available to State Health Plan members who have these conditions.

Twenty-four Roper St. Francis Physicians Partners practices centered on or including family medicine or internal medicine are participating. They are located in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Goose Creek, North Charleston, Moncks Corner and Summerville.

A key element of creating a medical home is ensuring that patients with chronic diseases are receiving preventive care as quickly as possible so they can avoid acute episodes. For Dr. Robert Oliverio, Roper St. Francis physician director of primary care, this means the primary care team spends more time preparing for patients’ visits. The team creates specific plans for patients with chronic diseases, engaging them and their families in their care and treatment.

“This allows a physician to focus on the work that is necessary to make improvements in patient care,” said Oliverio, from Moreland Internal Medicine in Charleston. “This is about getting all of the information before the patient arrives and making sure you use your time face to face to change their care plans and then afterward, you provide the patient with the necessary information.”

PCMHs revamp how primary care is delivered and financed. A PCMH is a team-based approach led by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant. It reinforces and rewards coordination between primary care and other practitioners to monitor an individual patient’s care. The goal is to achieve the “Triple Aim” of improved health outcomes, reduced cost and enhanced patient experience.

“At BlueCross, we constantly look for innovative ways to help the medical community improve our members’ health. We have driven the PCMH movement in South Carolina,” said Dr. Laura Long, chief medical officer and vice president of clinical innovation. “Our support focuses on payment for functions that fall outside of the face-to-face visit and services associated with coordination of care and incentives for achieving measurable and continuous patient health improvements. We congratulate Roper St. Francis Physician Partners for establishing this PCMH for our members.”

Including the Roper St. Francis Physicians Partners practices, BlueCross supports 158 accredited PCMH practices across the state with more than 550 participating physicians serving 43,000 BlueCross, BlueChoice and State Health Plan members with chronic conditions. 

About Roper St. Francis Physician Partners
Roper St. Francis Physician Partners is a comprehensive network of 220 physicians that covers a complete range of primary care and 20 subspecialties. Roper St. Francis Physician Partners has physician practices in five counties throughout South Carolina providing our community convenient, comprehensive and compassionate healthcare.

About BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C. and operating in South Carolina for more than 65 years, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina (www.SouthCarolinaBlues.com) is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. The only South Carolina-owned and operated health insurance carrier, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina comprises more than 20 companies involved in health insurance services, U.S. DoD health program and Medicare contracts, other insurance and employee benefits services, and a philanthropic foundation that funds programs to improve health care and access to health care for South Carolinians.

BlueChoice HealthPlan of South Carolina also is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

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