Patient-Centered Care Conferences

Most healthcare professionals are career motivated by saving/improving lives. They make a commitment to lifelong learning to be the best that they can be. Keeping up with the latest in evidence-based diagnosis and treatments is, in itself, a herculean task.

In the new world of value-based care and compensation, private practices will have the most difficulty adjusting their business practices to comply and compete. This will cause more private practices to consider partnering or seeking employment with hospital systems or networks. Helping your members navigate their business and succession planning will become a pressing and ongoing need.

Uncertain Times

This article was penned prior to the 2016 election. While it is uncertain what aspects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be repealed or replaced, the premise of having reimbursements subject to patient improvement makes practical sense.

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is about more than just increasing coverage for 20 million-plus uninsured. The next steps in the healthcare reform process are patient-centered, meaning reimbursement will be dependent on patient outcomes and quality of value-based care instead of treatments, procedures and tests.

Impact on Healthcare Conferences?

If these waves of change haven’t impacted your medical meeting’s business model, it’s just a matter of time. Here are four questions (and tips) for your conference committee to consider as they navigate this changing landscape:

1. Session Mix.

How much of our program should be scientific or clinical vs. practice- management or patient-centered? Tip: have each conference committee member reach out to five to ten key attendees to understand their pressing priorities. Differentiate needs between private practices, health care systems and academic professionals. Determine which of those segments are most critical to your business model and profession.

2. Continuing Medical Education Eligibility.

To attract the right attendees, do all of our sessions need to be accredited? Tip: Focus first on helping your attendees address their pressing priorities, regardless of CME eligibility. CME is being commoditized. High-quality learning is worthy of investing time and money.

3. Submissions or curation?

Will our submission process yield the highest quality sessions or will we need to invite speakers who we know can address our learning priorities? Tip: Conference organizers are increasingly embracing a combination of curation and submission. Evolve the submission process to better articulate the sessions desired in the call for submissions. Increase your quality filters and accept fewer submissions. Fill any content holes with curated/invited presenters.

4. Individuals or teams?

Is there demand for learning experiences designed not just for doctors, but for the care-giving team? Tip: Healthcare is morphing into a team sport. Teams that learn together thrive together. Instead of segmenting the program by job function, design learning tracks that attract and advance those teams.

How are you helping your profession adapt and succeed in these uncertain times? How much of a factor do you think CME is on the decision to attend?

Adapted from Dave’s Forward Thinking column in PCMA’s Convene. Reprinted with permission of Convene, the magazine of the Professional Convention Management Association. ©2017.