Historical Strategic Initiatives

Accountable Care Organization
When the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, ECRH decided to get into the one-sided model of an accountable care organization (ACO). This venture has not gone well, and ECRH has decided to leave the ACO business. However, they are concerned about the public image of this decision. The details of the termination are under discussion with a need to determine how to minimize the public perception of termination, particularly since there was so much marketing of their getting in this venture. The regulatory requirements of the government regarding the timing of terminating an ACO venture further complicate this decision.
Primary Care Medical Home
The employed primary care group has been active in establishing accredited primary care medical homes within all the primary care offices throughout the ECRH system. This initiative is a positive emerging strategy for ECRH. It has also been an attractive draw for the family practitioners from Greenbranch Medical Center residency program since Greenbranch has established an accredited medical home for their family practice residency program.
American Nursing Credential Center Status (ANCC)
ECRH has been working on becoming a magnet status for ERMC. This work has stalled out as an initiative. Some of this is due to the nursing leadership within ERMC. The CEO intends to move this priority up in the organization’s goals.
Information Technology
ECRH has invested heavily in their information technology infrastructure. This investment became a requirement just to be able to gather the data needed for the ACO development. This cost has become significantly greater than anticipated. ECRH fully implemented EPIC as their core information technology system. There have been implementation problems since the ECRH was operating off multiple systems before the decision to consolidate to one platform. The implementation of EPIC required considerable retraining for the staff and physicians. Data conversions have gone well. The difficulties have been more human-related relative to the effective use of the system. One of the major issues has been the lack of ECRH not meeting meaningful use requirements which has cost ECRH significant lost revenue from not meeting these goals.