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I know, I know it\u2019s a clich\u00e9, but it\u2019s true, really! When great teams accomplish an amazing feat once, it\u2019s called a great victory. For instance, the Las Vegas Knights hockey team. They accomplished something never done before; they made it to the Stanley Cup in their very first year of existence. Look at the NBA\u2019s Golden State Warriors. In ten attempts they won six national championships. Look at our office, we are associated with our brokerage firm, Futurity First. We have been the number one office, nationwide, in terms of how many people we help, for six years, back-to-back. No other firm of our type helps as many people in as many ways as we do.<\/p>\n
When folks look at amazing feats, sometimes you need to dig a little deeper into what makes these consistently high-performing groups tick. Football teams are structured similarly to a military organization. Specifically, they are broken down into subgroups of focus; offense, defense, and special teams. Each subgroup has even more subsets of specialty. The field goal kickers have their coach, the quarterbacks have their coach. The head coach manages all the coaches and drives the strategy, while the offensive and defensive coordinators focus on tactics to implement the strategy.<\/p>\n
Another example is the clinical model in healthcare. Most folks are well-served by visiting their primary care doctor annually. Some folks just need more help than their primary care physician is prepared to deliver. Everyone knows the name Mayo Clinic. They are famous for providing healthcare to thousands of people in the United States even though they have only full-service facilities in three parts of the country; AZ, FL, and MN. What made them so\u00a0famous? For one thing, they pioneered the clinical model. Multiple teams to serve their patients\u2019 needs, following a single strategy, sound familiar? They have engineered a patient experience that reduces wait time, improves outcomes, and serves more patients with efficiency.<\/p>\n
In Arizona, specifically serving the Medicare population, we have two healthcare clinical models. One serves only Medicare patients and is a couple years old; it\u2019s called IORA care. You can now use their primary care services if you have original Medicare with a Medicare Supplement (Medigap) or a Humana Medicare Advantage plan. This new approach provides more interaction with patients and uses a team of physicians and non-physician providers.<\/p>\n
The original freestanding clinical model is CIGNA. This is the old guard. Cigna Medicare group facilities have been in Arizona for over 45 years. They have over 22 clinical facilities in Maricopa County, ranging from adult primary care to multispecialty centers, to their own surgery center. What is interesting is they were the first medical provider in the United States to mandate electronic medical records. This was years before the government made it law. But what CIGNA did for its patients, unlike any other provider, is they eliminated the wait time for records to move from primary care to specialty care. This saved time, inconvenience, and lives in many cases. As far as quality of care, CIGNA is also hard to match. They have over 40 NCQA certified physicians. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in the United States that works to improve health care quality through the administration of evidence-based standards, measures, programs, and accreditation<\/em>. Additionally, they have a focus on diabetes education, treatment, and management. When was the last time your doctor suggested you meet with a clinical pharmacologist? Never is my guess. Sometimes these folks are called PharmD\u2019s because they are medical doctors specializing in pharmacology. CIGNA has seven clinical pharmacologists that reach out to patients in conjunction with their primary care physician, for patients that are being treated for either diabetes or anticoagulation therapy (also called Coumadin or Warfarin therapy)<\/em>. One more thing, if you are an engineer, live with one, or are just a fan of innovation, this will also be of interest. CIGNA is focused on quality patient outcomes, obviously. Quality usually costs money. Money that many providers either don\u2019t have or feel compelled to spend. CIGNA has a vice president of SIX SIGMA. Six Sigma is a disciplined, statistical-based, data-driven approach and continuous improvement methodology for eliminating defects in a product, process or service<\/em>. Even the CEO holds a qualification. By allowing engineers to eliminate waste, increase performance, and allow the doctors, nurses, and clinical teams to focus on patients, guess what. You get sustainable profits and consistently good and improved patient outcomes.<\/p>\n That was a long route to make my point. Our practice is built on teams of teams using the principles of AGILE, LEAN, and SIX SIGMA. This provides a comprehensive strategy to help our clients achieve their goals or objectives. That\u2019s why we have the Medicare planners, the long-term care planners, the estate planners, and the financial planners. The bottom line, teams are the key to success because\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u201cTogether, everyone achieves more!\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n