September 2021 Notes from the Network

Update: Community Care Grant Reporting Requirements.

Practices that received the Highmark Community Cares Grant must expend those funds as approved and report how the funds were used by November 30, 2021.  The Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) will be issuing instructions for the online Cares Grant Platform reporting soon.  If consistent with their application, practices can expense (and even prepay) their PACN dues and any associated data, EMR, and related connection expenses as this technology is needed to coordinate the care outreach for your individual and collective patients.  Please click here  for further information.

Register Now for the PACN Virtual Annual Meeting! 

Your PACN Annual Member Meeting will take place on Wednesday September 29^th from 6:00pm-8:00pm.  Join us as we celebrate another year of success and look to the future!  Click here to register.  We look forward to your participation on September 29^th.

PACN-ACO is on Track for 2022. 

Thanks to our Primary Care practices that have joined the PACN-ACO to participate in the 2022 upside only Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).  We are now developing the required governance and documentation to comply with CMS requirements.  Many of our existing PACN Committees will be enhanced to serve the PACN-ACO needs. Further updates will be forthcoming as CMS reviews our application to determine the number of PACN-ACO Fee For Service (FFS) attributable lives and roster of participating practices this Fall. Onward and Upward!

Helpful Quality Tips

As the measurement year is winding down and we close in on the final quarter of the year, try reaching out to your patients who have not obtained routine preventive services such as colorectal screening, cervical cancer screenings, mammograms, wellness exams, and immunizations. Now is the time to get patients back into your practices and back on track with their healthcare. As a reminder, you do not receive credit for a care gap when a patient refuses a service. A patient may be removed from a measure if an exclusion applies. The responsibility to encourage patients to receive these necessary screenings is incumbent on the PCP and prevents unfortunate outcomes in the future.

Quality Tiering Tool

The Quality Team has developed a Tiering Tool to assist them in determining how best to allocate their time and resources to the primary care practices. The practices are scored (bronze, silver, gold) based on their HEDIS/STARS knowledge, cooperation, responsiveness to outreach, and their overall quality scores. If you want to know your practice’s tiering score, contact your Quality Director.

Thank You and Good Luck Barry Buckingham

Barry Buckingham, VP of Information Technology, has accepted a position outside the PACN.  Barry has helped the Network grow to nine payer value-based contracts and almost 190 clinicians. “I saw it as an opportunity that comes up very rarely and, while I love the mission of what we do [at the PACN], it was an opportunity for me to affect healthcare across the State of Pennsylvania and all the citizens of the Commonwealth…It’s a very rare opportunity.”   Everyone at the PA Clinical Network and its members congratulate Barry on this great opportunity and wish him the best of luck. 

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