Touchstone Maine Retreat 2009

TouchstoneMaine Conference on the Patient Centered Medical Home

Dr. Bob Eidus, Dr. Lisa Letourneau and Dr. David Loxterkamp sharing a lighthearted moment in what was otherwise a serious discussion of measuring quality outcomes in the PCMH

14 APHORISMS
by Dr. David Loxterkamp

1. Health is not a commodity.

2. Risk factors are not disease.

3. Aging is not an illness; death is not defeat.

4. Quality is more than metrics.

5. Doctors expect too much from data and not enough from conversation.

6. Doing all we can is not always doing what we should.

7. To fix a problem is easy; to share suffering is hard.

8. The most common condition we treat is unhappiness.

9. The most potent pill we can offer is our own happiness.

10. Nothing is more patient-centered than the process of change.

11. Community is the locus of healing, not the hospital.

12. Time is precious. We spend it on what we value.

13. Patients cannot see outside their pain; we cannot see in. Relationship is the bridge.

14. The foundation of a healing relationship is conversation, friendship and hope.

With a backdrop of fluorescent red, orange and yellow colors from the turning leaves in New England, the Touchstone Maine Retreat kicked off on the cool Sunday evening of October 11, 2009.

Physicians and staff members from nine TransforMED National Demonstration Project (NDP) practices and thirty individuals were registered for the event.

The retreat opened with a reception at the host practice, Seaport Family Practice, which was one of the NDP self-directed practices. Over the course of the next two days, participants were challenged to think "outside the box" and engaged in spirited discussions about the merits of practice recognition as a medical home, the possibilities of changing networks in primary care and rethinking the practice team model.

Each of the Touchstone practices were called to "react" to one of the presentations and profile how their practice exemplified the challenges and opportunities presented within their own communities.

The power of the retreat was in its structure and the extended list of attendees who came from outside the NDP practices. For the first time, Touchstone practices, as a group, shared their experience and learnings with practice members, healthcare experts and government representatives outside the NDP practices. NDP practice members, once again, had the opportunity to experience how far they had advanced in transforming their practices to the concepts of the medical home as they shared what the processes they had implemented.

The retreat provided an opportunity for learning and for connecting on a personal and professional level. In his closing remarks on Tuesday morning, Dr. David Loxtercamp summarized the events of the meeting and passed on "14 Aphorisms" he had written from his experience transforming to a medical home. The individual aphorisms, by themselves cause one to pause and reflect...but when he combined them with his experience and pictures of those for whom he has provided care, the room was left with a quiet and yet firm resolve to continue the transformational journey to the medical home because it is the basis of hope for the future.

Do you have an opinion you'd like to share? Email update@TransforMED.com.