On April 4, Baptist Health introduced Baptist Medical Group, encompassing more than a dozen of its employed primary care, specialty care and hospital-based physician practices with a new “wraparound” brand designed to reflect their unified governance, common goals and shared vision.
While individual practice names will remain in place, the shared identity of Baptist Medical Group demonstrates the practices are working as one to grow, innovate and respond to the rapidly changing health care landscape.
“This is the result of years of collaboration between our practice leadership and the health system,” said Dr. Edward Gorak, vice president and medical director of Baptist Medical Group. “We have earned the trust of our community by serving them at every stage of life with high-quality care. Now, we are intensifying our focus on efficiency, consistency and access to help drive down overall health care costs as we continue to improve the quality of care and service.”
The first major group employed by the health system, Baptist Primary Care, began as a few practices that were acquired in the early 1980s. Today, Baptist Primary Care is the largest network of family medicine, internal medicine and pediatric providers in Northeast Florida, with more than 55 offices and 250 physicians and advance practice providers.
Over the decades, based on community need, a number of specialty groups joined the health system as employed practices (behavioral health, cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, neurosurgery, oncology, rheumatology and more).
Because each was brought into the health system at a different time, the various practices had separate technologies, processes and governance structures, which somewhat limited their ability to effectively collaborate, drive efficiencies and share resources and best practices.
As Baptist Medical Group, these practices consider themselves “partners in health,” aligned not only in mindset but also in how they work — sharing common tools, care techniques, patient experience expectations, growth goals and innovation initiatives.
Through greater alignment, the health system has achieved remarkable results. For example, Baptist Health launched a collaborative care model that bridges Baptist Primary Care and Baptist Behavioral Health with a team-based approach to care. Since the implementation of this model, the wait times for existing adult, adolescent and pediatric primary care patients in need of a behavioral health consultation have been reduced from as long as 11 months down to fewer than five days.
By accelerating the adoption of tools such as “Epic Fast Pass,” several Baptist Medical Group practices are helping patients get access to an earlier appointment date if another patient cancels. Due to this technology and other strategies focused on access, Baptist Heart Specialists has reduced wait periods from an average of six weeks for new patients to just over two weeks.
With more than 2,000 providers with privileges on its adult and pediatric medical staff, Baptist Health recognizes that its success in providing effective, efficient and consistent care is dependent on working collaboratively across its entire network of providers.
“We recognize individual specialties, groups and physicians have different and unique needs,” said Timothy Groover, MD, senior vice president and system chief medical officer at Baptist Health. “Therefore, we offer multiple options for alignment, including membership in our clinically integrated network, Baptist Physician Partners. No matter what the form of physician-health system alignment, we are deeply grateful for the commitment and dedication of all of our providers, employed and independent alike. It takes everyone rowing in the same direction to deliver excellence in quality, efficiency, value and experience to our patients and their families.”
