Palm Beach Accountable Care Organization (PBACO) recently hosted a dinner with area hospital CEOs and administrators to discuss ways hospitals and physicians can work together to improve health care delivery.

 

Palms West CEO Eric Goldman commented that he had never seen so many doctors pull together. “Usually when something new in health care is being created, the hospitals are at the forefront of making it happen,” he said. “It’s rare to find a group of physicians coming together under a common cause to make hospitals part of it. This truly is unique because there is transparency and we’re talking about working together as partners for the benefit of the patient.

 

“I am confident that PBACO will be successful because of this approach.” John D. Couris, the president and CEO of Jupiter Medical Center, agreed, saying that medicine today is all about “collaborating with physicians in our community.”

 

Couris, who stated that PBACO’s “physician-driven concept fits with our overall strategy,” outlined numerous plans to use innovative technology to facilitate better patient care and increased coordination with the physicians treating patients who arrive at JMC.

 

One technological advancement tested recently with PBACO physicians is a smartphone-based text messaging system using “push” notification that alerts a primary care physician (PCP) every time a patient enters a hospital or is discharged. At the event a video was shown featuring internal medicine physician Dr. Irma Lopez discussing her experience with the technology.

 

“Before this technology I would have to remember this information and it often took three or four days to follow up with the patients,” she said. “This app allows me to connect with my nurse practitioner immediately to begin making follow-up appointments with my patients.”