As an increasing number of independent physicians are looking to join larger group practices to offset operating costs, a local hospital system is aggressively pursuing them to improve its quality of care.
Last year, Glendale-based Wheaton Franciscan Services Inc. took over operations of Covenant Healthcare System in Milwaukee, creating Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and replacing Covenant Medical Group with Wheaton Franciscan Medical Group (WFMG).
Soon after, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare merged its All Saints Medical Group in Racine with WFMG, creating a unified medical group.
Although the medical group plans to increase in size across all specialties, WFMG is focusing on doubling its number of primary care physicians within three years, said Dr. Loren Meyer, president and chief executive officer of WFMG.
Currently, WFMG has 90 primary care physicians within its group of 260 physicians.
WFMG added 45 physicians to its staff last year and has 49 physicians signed on to start in 2007 and 2008. The group has 43 clinics in Wisconsin.
Wheaton Franciscan pushed to grow its physician groups in the late 1990s, but had not done a large amount of recruiting since around 2000, Meyer said.
“We are looking at it differently than we had before,” Meyer said. “The medical group is not the hospital-centric model of bringing physicians in for the sole purpose of growing a hospital, but we are bringing physicians in to have a significant voice on how health care moves forward.”
The new model will enable physicians to take advantage of leadership and educational opportunities in management and government that they would not have in an independent group or an already established group affiliated with a hospital, Meyer said.
The goal of growing the primary care sector of WFMG is multi-pronged and includes offering an integrated delivery system and operational efficiency that will result in increased quality of patient care, Meyer said.
“Over the next three years, there is significant growth we are trying to achieve, and it is around how to provide better value to the community,” Meyer said. “A key point for us in growth is not for growth’s sake, but to help us fulfill our mission around exceptional and compassionate patient care. We need to partner with strong physicians to help them be successful in the market.”
The physician group concept helps physicians rise to a higher level because they are able to compare notes on cases, issues and coverage, Meyer said.
“They are also able to put together methodologies for patient care based on best evidence, and we can then measure our physicians’ performance and benchmark them across practices throughout the state and the country,” Meyer said. “With a small practice, it is challenging to be able to make those assessments.”
With the growth of WFMG, Wheaton Franciscan can extend its electronic medical records integration across primary care clinics to its hospital system, improving physician communication and offering continuous care for patients regardless of the facility the patient enters for medical care.
The physician-centric model is not a new idea, but the fact that WFMG is moving in a different direction than it had in the past is exciting to be a part of, according to Dr. Stuart Hannah, a specialist in family medicine practices from the Mequon location of WFMG. Hannah joined Wheaton about eight months ago after practicing within Dean Health System in Madison.
“To me, as a physician, it is fairly like we as a medical group are an independent functioning entity within the overall Wheaton health system,” Hannah said. “I like that they are asking for physician input on how to grow the system. I joined Dean when it was already set in place, and I like being a part of something still evolving.”
