WASHINGTON, DC – Today, at the Health Affairs Briefing - “Choosing Wisely: Opportunity and Challenges in Curbing Medical Overuse” - the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) announced its partnership with the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation. This partnership will leverage PCPCC’s role in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI) to advance patient and family engagement.
TCPI is a four-year CMS-funded program designed to assist more than 140,000 clinicians in practice transformation in anticipation of value-based payment arrangements. The PCPCC and the ABIM Foundation will collaborate on developing and implementing effective approaches to engage patients and families in decisions about health services addressed in Choosing Wisely programs.
The PCPCC offers in-person and online training, as well as technical assistance. The aim is to foster meaningful partnerships between clinicians and patients, families, and community-based organizations to reduce opioids, unnecessary antibiotics, and low-value imaging as well as other services that are not necessary, redundant or even harmful.
“We are taking an innovative approach to advancing patient and family engagement by integrating Choosing Wisely tools and strategies into our program framework,” said Ann Greiner, President and CEO of the PCPCC. “Patients and families also need to be part of the solution in reducing services that are unwarranted or of low value.”
“The ABIM Foundation is excited about this new partnership with PCPCC,” said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of the ABIM Foundation. “The fact that PCPCC has chosen the Choosing Wisely model to further patient and family engagement on the topic of reducing unnecessary tests and procedures validates the power of this message. We look forward to accelerating awareness and acceptance of this important effort in improving health care.”
PCPCC hosted a kickoff meeting to launch its participation with Choosing Wisely at the PCPCC Annual Conference on October 12, 2017.