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Taconic Independent Practice Association

Taconic Independent Practice Association (IPA), the premier healthcare delivery network in the greater Hudson Valley, New York area selected TransforMED to facilitate a 24-month pilot project to fully transform Bridge Street Family Medicine and twelve other practices to a patient-centered medical home and assist them at achieving level two certification from the National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) by December 31, 2009. Taconic IPA is comprised of more than 3,700 physicians representing over 700,000 patients.

The pilot project is leveraging the Taconic Health Information Network and Community Regional Health Information Organization (THINC RHIO), which is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare for the benefit of the people of the Hudson Valley region of New York State. THINC RHIO is comprised of a broad range of stakeholders including physicians, hospitals, providers, payers, employers and others in the healthcare industry. Taconic IPA is a project partner working with THINC RHIO and TransforMED on this medical home pilot project. 

After being selected as a project partner by THINC RHIO, Taconic IPA created an alliance with TransforMED, Bridge Street Family Medicine and 12 other practices within the state, to create a medical home pilot program designed to transform these practices to a patient-centered medical home and assist them at achieving level two certification from the National Center for Quality Assurance (NCQA) by December 31, 2009.

TransforMED Practice Enhancement Facilitators are currently working with Taconic IPA, Bridge Street Family Medicine as well as six other health plans within the state. The payers in the pilot have agreed that in addition to a fee-for-service reimbursement model, there will be an additional two components for reimbursement: one component for being level two NCQA certified and an outcomes based component based on process and outcomes measures derived from aggregated administrative data received from all health plans participating in the project.

Additional partners in the project that TransforMED facilitators will be working with include, MedAllies (a health information service provider that manages all technical aspects of the THINC RHIO, including day to day implementation and operations on behalf of and under the direction of THINC RHIO) and MassPro (a performance improvement organization in the United States, dedicated to advancing healthcare quality).  TransforMED will be working directly with Bridge Street Family Practice on their medical home transformation, while MassPro will be working with the 12 additional practices within the state, all with the same goal of improving patients' ability to access care when needed; coordinating patient care so it is seamless between practices, hospitals and specialists; and improving the patient, staff and physician experience.

The pilot program is based on a well-documented theory that access to comprehensive, coordinated, continuous and personalized care improves health status, facilitates disease management, lowers cost, and permits a more equitable distribution of care.