Springer Running Group Visits in Your Practice

A Fateful Meeting A year and a half ago, I was sitting at a conference listening to Ed Noffsinger speak, and suddenly had the most profound ‘‘Aha’’ moment of my professional career. Here was someone presenting a practical and tested solution to some of the most challenging problems currently plaguing the US healthcare system, problems such as poor access to primary and specialty care; the uncontainable and rising costs of healthcare; our nation’s relatively poor quality outcomes; and finally, the sense of frustration, disempowerment, loneliness, and disenfranchisement that patients and their families too often experience. Dr. Noffsinger’s solution seemed deceptively simple―shared medical appointments (SMAs) that afford the highest quality healthcare to be delivered in the highest quality care experience―a group setting. Experience collected over a decade and involving more than 100,000 patient visits throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of Europe has demonstrated that SMAs, when used in primary care as well as in the medical and surgical subspecialties, lead to increased access to care, enhanced quality of care, and improved patient satisfaction. For physicians, the efficiency gains and team support from their participation in SMAs translate into much needed relief and improved career satisfaction. Review From the reviews: “Edward Noffsinger, is a psychologist who has been developing and refining the shared medical appointment (SMA) model for about 20 years in a variety of practices throughout the United States … . His book … put, the best compilation of information on the subject of SMAs available. … Whether they be generalists or subspecialists, readers having any interest in starting an SMA (or those already running one and seeking to improve it) should absolutely read Running Group Visits in Your Practice.” (William Ventres, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 303 (12), March, 2010) “Noffsinger a psychologist who was diagnosed with a severe illness outlines the group visit model as a means of increasing physician productivity in healthcare visits access and patient satisfaction. Writing for clinicians, staff administrators and healthcare organizations, he discusses the history and purpose of the current group visit models … and how to successfully implement them in a practice.” (SciTech Book News, June, 2010) From the Back Cover With health care costs on the rise, poor access to primary and specialty care, the complexities of the health insurance system and the demands on a physician’s time, the traditional model of one-on-one medical visits no longer best serves patients or health care providers. Patient demand is only increasing as the population ages and suffers chronic illnesses, and with too few medical students entering primary care and geriatrics, the health care system’s ability to meet that demand is rapidly decreasing. Under this current model, a patient can wait for two hours for a handful of minutes with an exhausted doctor. Frustratingly little discussion or education can take place during such inaccessible and hurried visits. Dr. Edward B. Noffsinger, a pioneer in group visits and the originator of two of today’s three major group visit models, has engineered a potential solution to these imminent and pressing health care challenges. Running Group Visits in Your Practice presents the group visit model as a means to exponentially increase physician productivity while working the same or fewer hours and increasing patient satisfaction. This book explores the history and purpose of current group visit model (most notably the DIGMA and PMSA models, invented by the author more than decade ago), how to implement them in your practice, and how to make them a success for patients and physicians alike. With its groundbreaking theories and friendly, accessible tone, Running Group Visits in Your Practice represents a fascinating solution to some