TransforMED and Phytel Partner to Enhance Care Coordination for Primary Care Practices

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Phytel, the leader in automated patient care management, today announced an agreement with TransforMED LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), to make its Proactive Patient Outreach solution available to participating physicians. Through this relationship, Phytel is a preferred business partner that provides patient outreach integrated with a patient registry to help TransforMED clients proactively manage preventive health and disease management protocols.

“Through this partnership, we will be able to provide participating physicians with innovative technology, data integration capabilities and clinical content that will enhance coordination of care. We also plan to play an integral role in helping physician practices receive National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognition.”

“As patient-centered Medical Homes, primary care practices serve as the focal point of patient care coordination across all specialties,” said Terry McGeeney, M.D., MBA, president and CEO of TransforMED. “Our goal is to identify technologies that can assist practices to improve diagnostic capabilities and to enhance treatment and outcomes. Phytel participated in our national demonstration project and posted impressive results. We are confident that this relationship will have a positive impact on both patients and physicians.”

TransforMED provides support and consulting services to primary care physicians and health systems that want to transform their medical practices into Patient-Centered Medical Homes. The TransforMED Medical Home model combines the relationship-centered values of primary care with new technologies to improve quality of care and efficiency, as well as patient and physician satisfaction. The organization made the decision to partner with Phytel because of its proven track record for improving the coordination of care.

“We are certainly impressed with TransforMED’s initiatives and their Medical Home model,” said Steve Schelhammer, CEO of Phytel. “Through this partnership, we will be able to provide participating physicians with innovative technology, data integration capabilities and clinical content that will enhance coordination of care. We also plan to play an integral role in helping physician practices receive National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognition.”

The Phytel Proactive Patient Outreach solution improves coordination of care by automating the follow up process for a practice’s patient population, specifically patients with chronic conditions and those in need of preventive care services. Phytel aggregates information from practice management systems, electronic medical records, hospital information systems and other available data sources to create the Phytel registry for the practice or organization. Phytel applies evidence-based disease management and preventive care protocols against the registry data to determine which patients are due for care. Identified patients are then notified through automated outreach messaging. Proactive Patient Outreach also enables practices to track patients’ responses and monitor compliance.

About TransforMED

TransforMED is focused on practice redesign and affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). TransforMED is studying and implementing transformed models of high performance practices that meet the needs of both patients and practices. In June 2006, TransforMED launched a 24-month National Demonstration Project (NDP), serving as a "learning lab" to generate new knowledge about the process of practice transformation and to systematically evaluate and compare the effect of two practice transformation approaches on practice and patient outcomes. As results and insights emerge, TransforMED professional staff are using the lessons learned from the NDP to develop services, collaboration tools and learning opportunities that empower physicians and primary care practices across the country as they implement the TransforMED Medical Home. TransforMED also coordinates a residency demonstration initiative known as P4 – P to the fourth power – which stands for Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice. The P4 residency demonstration initiative evaluates and supports innovations in family medicine residencies. To learn more about TransforMED and the TransforMED Medical Home, visit www.transformed.com.

About Phytel

Phytel was founded in 1996 to enable physicians to proactively transform patient care. Its unique services improve revenue and efficiency by actively implementing quality standards both inside and outside of the practice walls, while strengthening the physician-patient relationship.

Phytel’s state-of-the-art registry uses evidence-based disease management and preventive care protocols to identify patients that are due for service. Phytel automatically notifies patients of needed health care actions and tracks patients for compliance, while measuring quality and financial results. Phytel contractually guarantees program results within 60 days of implementation. For more information, please visit www.phytel.com.