One of the first things I did when I became NPN’s Chief Medical Officer was to go out and visit with many of NPN’s primary care physicians in their clinics. These clinics — in office buildings and shopping centers, converted houses and stand-alone clinics — are the front-lines of health care in our community. The physician/owners of these clinics told me what matters to them, and why they practice medicine in independent practices.
While NPN’s primary care doctors are a diverse and independent group, as individuals they expressed the same consistent set of values that makes them the quality doctors they are. Here’s what I heard from those docs:
- They believe in Thriving through Innovation. They all want to find ways to be more effective in their care delivery and efficient in the administration of their practices. They look to NPN as a whole and their physician colleagues to find new and better ways to deliver care.
- The Sanctity of the Doctor-Patient Relationship must not be violated. While new and innovative tools will improve the life of the physician and the health of the patient, the trust that patients have put in their doctors must never be compromised.
- They are passionate about Defending the Freedom of Healthcare Options. It’s up to the patient and doctor together — not a health plan’s guidelines or a “corporate medicine” productivity number — to determine what is best for the patient and they must be enabled to proceed along that path.
- The Passionate Pursuit of Optimal Care leads to the best outcomes for their patients. They have experienced and believe in the power of evidence-based clinical decisions, using Chronic Care Registries, e-presribing, and expert clinical support.
- They are committed to Being Rooted in the Community as Independent Physicians. This is their home. They have committed to living and working in the community and to contributing beyond the clinic to the health and vibrancy of their city and region.
In future posts, I’ll unpack these values in more detail, and use real examples to show how these values live everyday in our community.
