Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare Medical Group, LLC today announced their intent to consolidate to form a clinically integrated, independent medical system.
The consolidated clinical service will improve access and enhance the patient experience. Care for the patients of each organization will be uninterrupted, as the practitioners and locations will not change.
Community Care Physicians is currently the largest independent multispecialty medical group of the Capital Region, with 1200 employees, including over 270 practitioners, and over 20 different medical specialties. CapitalCare, also a multispecialty medical group, has 650 employees, including 130 practitioners. The independent physician model is the key to achieve the quadruple aim of improving the patient experience, the health of the population, the health of practitioners and employees, and also controlling the total cost of care.
“We share a vision for the future of healthcare. Our goal has always been to remain independent and continue to focus on what’s in the best interest of our patients,” said Shirish Parikh, MD, MBA, FACR, Founder, Chairman, CEO of Community Care Physicians. “This consolidation will enhance our delivery of top-quality, coordinated patient care by integrating the strengths of both medical groups.”
“The healthcare landscape is changing,” says Joan Regan Hayner, CEO of CapitalCare. “We are facing increasing downward pressure on cost, while facing lofty goals on improved outcomes. We wanted to see what our opportunities were to gain synergies, improve operational efficiencies and, at the same time, improve the patient and practitioner experience through collaboration.”
Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare will create significant value by bringing together complementary capabilities. CapitalCare offers 10 different medical specialties, with the majority of practitioners in primary care. The organization has specialties not offered within Community Care Physicians, such as adult neurology, sleep medicine, pulmonary medicine, endocrinology, nephrology, and developmental pediatrics. Community Care also has a focus on primary care, but offers a broader base of services, with over 20 different specialty services. The consolidation will deliver a greater array of services to patients and improved access. After the consolidation, the organization will offer: internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, developmental pediatrics, urgent care, medical imaging, audiology, behavioral health, bariatric medicine, dermatology, diabetes education, endocrinology, general surgery, hematology, interventional radiology, medical nutrition therapy, medical oncology, ob/gyn, occupational medicine, adult and pediatric neurology, nephrology, physical therapy, plastic surgery, podiatry, pulmonary and sleep medicine, radiation oncology, sports medicine, urology, vascular surgery, lab, and wellness services.
Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare Medical Group share many similarities within their organizations already. Both are multispecialty medical groups that have been longstanding organizations in this community; Community Care Physicians was formed over 30 years ago and CapitalCare 19 years ago. Physicians of each organization have been providing care in this community for decades and each group has been recognized as a Top Workplace in the area as well as “Better Performing Practices” by the Medical Group Management Association. Both medical groups use Allscripts electronic health record and the FollowMyHealth patient portal solution. Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare are focused on innovating to improve the patient experience and provide greater access points for patients. In some offices, CapitalCare implemented TeleCare, a technology that assists practitioners by using nurse scribes through monitors in the exam rooms. Community Care Physicians recently launched a new telemedicine app for iPhone called VICA – Virtual Care, which is moving from its beta phase and will be released soon and available to patients throughout New York State.
“It has become very evident through the course of our discussions that each organization has been highly successful and our goal in the consolidation is to incorporate the best that each of our organizations has to offer to truly create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts,” says Ms. Hayner.
Once consolidated, the medical group will be governed by physicians from Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare Medical Group. Dr. Shirish Parikh will serve as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board and Joan Hayner will be President and Chief Operating Officer.
At this time, Community Care Physicians and CapitalCare Medical Group anticipate no changes in their workforce. Over the coming months, the medical groups will work collaboratively to finalize details of the consolidation. There is no definitive date set for becoming one organization. Additional details will be forthcoming.