MaineHealth Medical Group Seeks to Increase the Value of Care

Scott Williams, MD; Aileen Mickey, MD and Brett Loffredo, MD

Scott Williams, MD; Aileen Mickey, MD and Brett Loffredo, MD are leading the development of the medical group’s value-based care strategy.

“When planning for the future, it’s imperative that we include diverse voices in the conversation,” said Aileen Mickey, MD president of the MaineHealth Medical Group.

Founded one year ago to unite all MaineHealth outpatient providers under a single entity, the Medical Group has created a dynamic management team that includes clinical and administrative leaders from across MaineHealth’s geography and clinical specialties. Today, Dr. Mickey is including these leaders’ diverse insights in the Group’s plan to continue to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care in a health care landscape transformed by the pandemic.

“We can’t go back to business as usual. Now is the time to evolve our system of care to become more resilient and more innovative in responding to the needs of our patients and communities.”

– Aileen Mickey, MD

The key to resilience and innovation may be value-based care, an emerging health care delivery and reimbursement model that helps ensure patients receive the right care, at the right time, and at the right place. It rewards high-quality and efficient care while emphasizing the well-being of both patients and care teams.

“In the past, we were dependent on clinical office visits and procedures for revenue to support practices. But an office visit or a procedure is not always the best way to meet the needs of our patients, particularly in primary care. Sometimes a call from a doctor, or consultation with a pharmacist, or a home visit from a care manager can be just as effective as an office visit. Value-based care opens up these pathways. It’s very exciting,” said Dr. Mickey.

With its potential already tested by the MaineHealth Accountable Care Organization — and after many conversations with leaders, providers and practice teams — the Medical Group is including value-based care as a fundamental component of its plan for the future. Combined with judicious use of fee-for-service reimbursement in appropriate settings, like the emergency room or a specialist’s office, it is a model that can help propel MaineHealth toward achieving its vison of working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.

About the MaineHealth Medical Group

MaineHealth Medical Group is the largest medical group in Northern New England. It unifies all 1,100 MaineHealth providers at the system’s 10 hospitals and more than 200 specialty and primary care practices in Maine and New Hampshire.

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