BRATTLEBORO — Windham Family Practice is the first in the Brattleboro area to be recognized as a Vermont Blueprint for Health practice. Under the leadership of Thomas Evans, MD, Windham Family practice has been independently assessed as meeting national standards as an Advanced Primary Care Practice.
The practice currently serves about 1,600 patients.
“We are very proud of the team of doctors and staff at Windham,” said Steven Gordon, CEO of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, which owns Windham Family Practice and is located on the hospital campus. “Primary care is the best setting in which to manage an individual's care and prevent small problems from becoming big ones. Windham is to be commended for embracing new standards to advance care for its patients and for the Brattleboro community. Meeting these high standards is a team effort and Peter Foote, DO, Janine Foote, DO and Barbara Evans, NP helped make this possible.”
Gordon is referring to a new approach to health care known as the Vermont Blueprint for Health. All the major health insurers in Vermont provide new resources for primary care practices that participate in the Blueprint.
The resources will include enhanced payments to primary care providers, patient workshops and a multi-disciplinary team, known as a Community Health Team that works free of charge with patients, and an information registry which helps track the health of patients and the population.
Craig Jones, MD, director of the Vermont Blueprint for Health with the state of Vermont, said, “The beauty of this approach is that it supports both individual health as well as population health. For example, a doctor can now pull up all the people with a particular condition that need a test or follow up. With the growing rate of health conditions like diabetes, this is an excellent way to proactively manage patient care and to do such things as remind patients that it's time for a check up or lab work.”
“The fact that Vermont has the eye of the federal government and that Medicare, the largest insurer in the country is a partner with us is a real testimony for what Vermont is doing,” said Dr. Jones “In Vermont, we're investing in primary care as that is where we can best prevent disease and keep Vermonters healthy.”
Windham Family Practice is at the forefront of a national movement and other local primary care providers are planning to join the Blueprint.
The Vermont Blueprint for Health is advanced primary care for all citizens of Vermont.
Due to the success of early pilots in targeted regions of the state, the Vermont Legislature has directed the statewide expansion of the Vermont Blueprint for Health to any interested primary care practice in Vermont by October 2013, affecting potentially 230 primary care practices.
For more information about the Vermont Blueprint for Health, contact Beth Tanzman, Blueprint Assistant Director, at 802-872-7538 or Bethh.Tanzman@ahs.state.vt.us.