MultiCare is experimenting with a new method of primary care at its Sumner clinic that, according to a release it sent out last week, it hopes will be the future of family medicine.

The “health home” pilot program is based on the concept of taking the menial information-recording tasks out of the hands of the doctor during an appointment and adding a Health Home Provider Coordinator to perform those functions. The intended result is to  allow the doctor to meet with more patients in a day and have more of that time focused directly on the patients.

For example, a physician’s time is spent examining and treating patients, not updating a patient’s recent medical history or charting on the computer during an exam.

“With health care reform, it gives us this wonderful opportunity to transform care,” said Dr. Ashley Keays, primary care provider at MultiCare Sumner Clinic, 1518 Main St. “It’s concierge-type care that’s makes it more efficient, and the quality of care is better. Our patients feel like a name, not just a number.”

The HHPC acts as a personal guide and accompanies the patient throughout the visit. At the end of a visit, the medical assistant schedules any follow-up care, answers any questions and prints out an after-visit summary right in every exam room.

The transformation is driven by increasing health care costs, decreasing reimbursements, undertreated patients and a shortage in primary care physicians. By 2014, it’s estimated the U.S. will be short 500,000 primary care physicians.

The program began in  February 2010 and will be reviewed after 18 months.

Keays cites a recent study that shows Americans receive only 55 percent of the health care they should receive. The pilot program aims to change that.

Before the change,  Keays’ daily schedule was booked six weeks out. Now half of her schedule is left open, so people can always be seen the same day.  Since Keays can’t work every day of the week, she has partnered with an advanced registered nurse practitioner who works closely with her to provide care to their patients.

“I tell my patients, ‘I want to focus on you, without the computer screen as a barrier,’” Keays said. “They really understand that.”

Patient satisfaction scores have increased more than 10 percent, up to 74.7 percent in March. Employee engagement scores have doubled, up to 93 percent in February 2011.

Additionally, care for patients showed sharp improvements during the past year:

Breast cancer screening: Up 20 percent.

Colon cancer screening: Up 12.7 percent.

Tetanus vaccine compliance: Up 20.1 percent.

Smoke cessation counseling: Up 46 percent.

Hypertension control: Up 7.3 percent.

Throughout a patient’s visit, the HHPC acts as a patient’s guide.

In the old traditional model, a patient checks in at the front desk with one person, waits in a waiting room until they are called back to an exam room by another person, then waits again for the physician. After the exam, the patient must go back to the front desk and wait again to schedule follow-up care.

In the new health home model that is being tested in Sumner, the HHPC meets each patient at the front desk and brings them back to an exam room. On the spot, the HHPC updates the patient’s medical history, family history, prescriptions, and makes sure the patient’s chart is complete. The preventive maintenance such as pap smears, mammograms, routine lab work, etc., is also checked to make sure everything is up to date. After that, the provider is immediately paged and comes to the exam room. The HHPC stays and documents on the chart as the provider performs the check up and makes recommendations. When the provider leaves, the HHPC coordinates follow-up care and schedules any additional tests. An after-visit summary is printed on the spot – there’s a printer in every room.

“We help patients indentify their health goals,”  Keays said. “Then we help them accomplish those goals.”

For more information about MultiCare Sumner Clinic, call 253-697-7400 or visit www.multicare.org/home/multicare-sumner-clinic.