CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Clinic, in partnership with the U.S. Army Cleveland Medical Recruiting Center, held a healthcare forum on the 97th Anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I. Dr. Jonathan Woodson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, joined a panel which included Chief Clinical Transformation Officer Dr. Michael Modic, Associate Chief Quality Officer Dr. Nirav Vakharia, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Concussion Center Dr. Jay Alberts, and U.S. Army Medical Command Deputy Chief of Staff for Support Brig. Gen. (Dr.) John Cho together they discussed the challenges facing the military and civilian health systems. The panel discussion took place at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Tower and was attended by residency coordinators, graduate medical education coordinators, students, and staff members from the Cleveland Clinic Medical School, Nursing Institute, Nurse Practitioner Program, and Physician Assistant Program.
Cleveland Clinic CEO Dr. Toby Cosgrove spoke of the shared path of the military and civilian health systems, stating, "We are moving from a system that rewards volume, procedures, and higher prices to a system that rewards efficiency and consistent outcome. Military and civilians -- we must do more with less." He added, "Military and civilian medicine face the same challenges: cost, quality, and efficiency. The founders of the Cleveland Clinic learned from military medicine and we hope that we can do the same."
Woodson submitted that, "Sharing of research, the care we deliver to veterans, and sharing of our best clinical practices can serve immediate professional needs and serve as the connective tissue we so desperately need in society between the military and those we serve."
The military, like the civilian sector, is challenged with identifying the right core measures by which to gauge healthcare. This includes developing measures for conditions that are difficult to quantify, which Alberts addressed with the need to quantify cognitive and motor functions in order to better treat traumatic brain injuries.
Vakharia added that the true way to measure success is to tailor healthcare to the individual. As he surmised, "Can you foresee a world where the patient, through conversation with their provider, is able to articulate their health goals clearly, and then measure ourselves against being able to meet those health goals? I don't think that world is very far away."
Cho explained how the Army is providing integrated care through Patient-Centered Medical Homes, expressing that, "To us, it is about meeting the needs of our patients first and foremost." Using this model and implementing improved electronic health records systems improves continuity of care in order to transform our healthcare system into a "system for health."
Echoing the need to improve continuity of care, Modic advocated the role of advanced practice providers, such as physician assistants, in bridging the gap between primary and specialty care. As he put it, "Coordination is the care."
Woodson summarized the nature of addressing these challenges as "volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous," adding, "The first part is understanding the complexity of the environment we're in so we don't develop simple but wrong solutions." Reconciling the need for high-value care with the demand for increased volume will require complex and innovative solutions that have effects beyond our hospitals and clinics.
The forum was designed to foster substantive discussion and to strengthen the collaborative bond between Army Medicine and one of the country's leading civilian health systems.
For more information about career opportunities in Army medicine, visit www.goarmy.com/amedd or call 1-800-710-2769 to locate an Army Healthcare recruiter.
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