MSO
Managed Services Organization - MSO
'Also Medical Services Organization
See Hosted Practice Deployment page for information about implementing TouchWorks in a hosted model
Different models
1) Traditional 'ASP' model. For profit, non-shared
2) Donation - Becoming more popular as a result of relaxation of the Stark Physician referral law and Anti-Kickback Statute Hospitals may donate up to 85% of the cost of implementing an EHR.
Description
A Managed Services Organization provides services and offers access to solutions to health care organizations typically too small to create competence in areas outside the scope of providing quality health care. Services may include billing and workflow consultation. Solutions may include access to Practice Management System software to process claims or Electronic Health Record software to leverge cutting edge medical technology.
Example
Over the past year, Galen consultants worked with an integrated health system that is taking advantage of the recent Stark exception and Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors and has donated the TouchWorks EHR to private physicians in the community. The health system, made up of two hospitals and a multi-specialty medical group, seized the opportunity to connect the community and help small, independent practices adopt an EHR.
In contrast to a traditional ASP or hosted model, this is a community health record where each provider along the continuum of care works exclusively from a fully shared patient record, updates the same medication list, allergy list and problem list. Instead of mailing a consult note, an independent physician can send an electronic task to the referring provider at the host health system to review details of the visit. Coordinating a surgical procedure, a process that could take over 2 weeks in the pre-connected world, now happens in less than an hour as the primary care physician from the Medical Group and private specialist use tasking to communicate in the context of the patient record.
Although improved patient care is the primary benefit, there are also administrative efficiencies to be gained. For example, instead of faxing a referral request, a physician could simply generate a ‘go to note’ task that references her office visit note in the chart.
The community health record concept has been well received and has resulted in a number of signed contracts. From the unscripted demos to the uncensored discussions about the product, physicians quickly recognize that this is not a typical vendor sales presentation but rather a community effort led by fellow TouchWorks customers.
The enterprise EHR would normally be out of reach for a small, 2 physician practice, and when the Stark adjustment and patient care benefits are factored in, the value is quickly apparent.
Since the health system is already live on the TouchWorks EHR, practices get local expertise, use of existing templates, and installation support. And because the private practices are literally using the same system, they get all the benefits of redundancy, security, and a world-class datacenter. Where else can a 2 physician practice get enterprise level support and attention? They get all the benefits of being with a large organization (purchasing power, vendor attention) while still remaining independent.
In this community, there are no other health systems with a similar offering, and the only competition is from small EMR vendors. As the community of users continues to grow and find new ways to collaborate, those who have not joined will likely find themselves becoming increasingly disconnected.
The passage of the Stark Exception and Anti-Kickback Safe Harbors has created an opportunity to connect this community while providing new opportunities for collaboration and help small, independent physicians adopt an EHR.