ACPM to debut first orthopedic value-based care conference in January

This conference will integrate financial, clinical and operational concepts in the orthopedic space.

Issue: January 2017

The American College of Perioperative Medicine will kick off its first Interdisciplinary Conference on Orthopedic Value-Based Care at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif. from Jan. 21 to Jan. 22.

According to course co-director Zeev N. Kain, MD, MBA, the conference is an immersion weekend aimed at bringing all the stakeholders together around orthopedic patients.

“The perioperative care is fragmented. We have various people who are doing their thing, but their communication to each other is hindered. We aim to break the silos between orthopedic surgeons, orthopedic nurses, anesthesiologists, hospitalists, health care executives and others,” Kain told Orthopedics Today.

Wide variety of topics

The conference offers a range of 39 topics with 22 renowned speakers, including course co-director Kevin J. Bozic, MD, MBA, an orthopedist from the Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care at Dell Medical School, University of Texas. Topics are derived from general sessions with three parallel tracks, which include the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model, the perioperative surgical home model, enhanced recovery, value-based care and the team approach which is critical to success in the changing health care environment.

“We have hospital executives from Hospital for Special Surgery, the Rothman Institute [and] the Hospital of Joint Diseases. We have the president of the National Association for Orthopedic Nurses,” he said. “The idea [of the conference] was to bring everybody together and break the silos between all of these people. What we have done is we have created a weekend that has three tracks: a financial track; an operational track; and a clinical track.”

The financial track will focus on the financial aspects of CJR and how the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump will affect orthopedic practices. The operational track will teach orthopedists how to put together a clinical model, such as enhanced recovery or a perioperative surgical home serving orthopedic patients. The clinical track will focus on the perioperative clinical issues — how to optimize patients before surgery, how to pre-habilitate patients before surgery, how to create clinical pathways and how to ensure patients’ postoperative recovery is smooth and they return home, rather than to a skilled nursing facility.

Bozic highlighted that the conference “... is a great opportunity to move the field forward with an impressive group of committed innovators. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with experts and share experiences on what factors enable providers to have a smooth and successful transition to value in health care. I am looking forward to a great meeting.”

Team success

An important message Kain wants attendees to take home from the conference is to work together as a team to improve the patient experience at an orthopedic practice.

“We strongly encourage teams to come to this meeting. Everybody goes to what they like. When the team leaves [this conference], I want them to have a comprehensive picture of how to handle the patient — not only from a financial perspective, not only from an operational perspective and not only from a clinical perspective,” Kain said.

Kain emphasizes this conference is different from others because there has not been one conference that has brought all these relevant topics together, while addressing all the members of the team.

“This is [the] reason why I started this meeting. I have implemented multiple enhanced recovery models and perioperative surgical home models in orthopedic service lines throughout the country, and I realized that people do not work as a team. When I bring them together in preparation, this is the first time some of these people have met with each other. This is the only way you can move forward in this health care environment,” he said. – by Nhu Te, MS

Reference:
Interdisciplinary Conference on Orthopedic Value Based Care. Available at: https://periopmed.org. Accessed: Dec. 8, 2016.

For more information:
Kevin J. Bozic, MD, MBA, is the inaugural chair of the Department of Surgery and Perioperative Care and professor of orthopedic surgery at the Dell Medical School, University of Texas. He can be reached at 1501 Red River St., Austin, TX 78712; email: kevin.bozic@austin.utexas.edu.
Zeev N. Kain, MD, MBA, is the chancellor’s professor and executive director of the UC Irvine Center on Stress & Health. He can be reached at the Department of Anesthesiology & Perioperative Care School of Medicine, University of California, 333 The City Boulevard West, Ste. 2150, Orange, CA 92868; email: zkain@ihgconsult.com.

Disclosure: Bozic reports he is a board or committee member for the American Joint Replacement Registry, a paid consultant for the CMS and Harvard Business School. Kain reports he is the president of the American College of Perioperative Medicine.