Thoughts on our CIC Summit

We have just had a successful Strategic Summit that was made so by the dedicated and spirited work of many of the Clinical Integration Committee Members. Turn out was excellent and our colleagues graciously spent Friday evening and Saturday in collaborative discussion and planning. The result is that our organizing Clinical Integration Network has spoken and delivered an acceptable structure for both the type of organization and governance.

Responding to prompt and honest survey feedback, the summit was planned specifically to address areas of interest to the respondents. At the summit, the feedback was discussed and participants unanimously agreed that:

- a Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) is the preferred type of organization for our medical community and,

- the governance of the PHO will reside in the Board of the PHO with doctors working side by side with hospital members.

An alliance was formed at this event with agreement that in the Board and all facets of the PHO, transparency and equal access will be the rules of engagement as the network is formed and begins carrying out its mission. Those present were unanimous in adopting this working model as a safe and equally advantageous environment for doctors to work in collaboration with each other and the hospital to carry out the functions of a clinically integrated network:

-promote evidence-based medicine

-facilitate care coordination

-negotiate and manage payer contracts.

We now have a viable structure that will allow doctors access to begin working together with the hospital to plan future collaborative efforts to continue to deliver high quality care to the patients we serve. We are in a planning phase and the participation of doctors in our community will be necessary and welcomed. I encourage you to join us as we plan our future collaboration endeavors. You will be hearing more and if you have questions, feel free to contact me or any of the several active members of the CIC planning effort. I also encourage you to reference Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) and other information regarding CIN concepts, etc. here on this web site. You can also register as a user and submit your comments here to our BLOG and/or submit your questions directly to us on the FAQ page.

Thanks again to all those who moved through this important planning process together!