The Medical Neighborhood: Connecting Care to Improve Health Outcomes

1. Poor clinical outcomes, duplicate services and increased healthcare costs are all harms to the patient from fragmented care

a) True
b) False

2. It is estimated that 60-70% of specialty care clinicians do not have the needed information from the referral at the time of making an appointment for the patient.

a) True
b) False

3. The Medical Neighborhood defines an approach to connecting care and working together to foster a mindset of cooperation, collaboration and cohesion.

a) True
b) False

4. An ideal referral between practices should include the following:

a) Medical necessity
b) Relevant history and workup
c) Direction to the correct specialty
d) All of the above

5. The High Value Care Coordination (HVCC) tool kit is a resource that can help improve the referral processed.

a) True
b) False

6. The following is/are step(s) when “Closing the Loop” in regards to the referral process:

a) Referral request sent, logged and tracked
b) Referral request received and reviewed
c) Referral response sent
d) All of the above

7. Poor communication, intimidation and long wait times are all reasons for no-show appointments from patients.

a) True
b) False

8. The following is/are step(s) to help reduce internal silos and improve the referral process:

a) Perform a Process Map of the referral process
b) Identify any gaps in critical elements and develop a correction plan
c) Define who the team members are for the practice referral process
d) Initiate a Policy and Procedures document
e) All of the above

9. ECHO is a tele-mentoring program that allows health professionals to ask colleagues about issues of uncertainty or management issues and provide an education process for solutions.

a) True
b) False