Working Together to Care for Patients
Dear YNHHS and YSM Communities:
In March, we articulated our commitment to align Yale New Haven Health (YNHHS) and Yale School of Medicine (YSM) to realize our full potential as one of the nation’s premier academic health systems. The imperative for increased alignment stems from our recognition that we must put the needs of our patients first, above all other considerations. Today, our patients struggle to access our services and to understand and navigate our complex organizational structures. They deserve the best from us, and we are focused on creating and delivering this patient experience.
Accordingly, we are pleased to share with you a new aligned physician practice model that will enable coordination between Yale Medicine, the YSM faculty practice plan, and Northeast Medical Group (NEMG), the YNHHS-employed practice plan with its affiliated physicians.
Dr. Margaret McGovern has been named chief physician executive of the aligned physician services, reporting jointly to the CEO of Yale New Haven Health as executive vice president and to the dean of Yale School of Medicine effective immediately. Dr. McGovern will continue to serve as CEO of Yale Medicine and deputy dean for clinical affairs in the School of Medicine. Dr. Richard Goldstein has been named as senior vice president for YNHHS, with responsibility for NEMG. Dr. McGovern will be advised by the Physician Enterprise Executive Committee comprised of physician and administrative leaders. NEMG, with its affiliated community physician groups, and Yale Medicine will remain separate legal entities, enabling us to provide an attractive professional employment environment for physicians with differing career aspirations.
The newly aligned physician enterprise will enable a coordinated strategy to enhance quality, service, and access. It will decrease fragmentation and increase communication and standardization across our physician practices. It will further improve operational efficiency and facilitate the implementation of a single point of entry for patients to access care.
Greater alignment will also result in better service and access for our physician partners in the community. Alignment will offer a seamless and timely experience to physicians referring patients and interacting with our health system. This is a critical first step toward the formation of a common quality platform with community physicians and surgeons through a clinically integrated network that will promote and promulgate best practices across the network and prepare us to be successful in value-based payment models.
Finally, alignment will increase our agility to grow to meet the needs of our region and build destination programs with national and international prominence. Our goal is to provide more patients with greater access to cutting-edge therapies across the system. In this way, our clinical research and educational missions will also be furthered.
We are truly excited about the opportunity to serve our patients and our physician partners in the community. Ultimately, this work will enable us to realize our full potential as a leading academic health system.
Sincerely,
Nancy J. Brown, MD
Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine
C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine
Christopher M. O’Connor, FACHE
Chief Executive Officer of Yale New Haven Health