Could the Plano center be model of health care for future?”
Plano Medical Village may be the model of health care future 12:00 AM CST on Sunday, December 27, 2009 By THEODORE KIM / The Dallas Morning News tkim@dallasnews.com Amid the shopping malls and subdivisions of Plano sits a medical park that might pass for any other. The nondescript campus consists of a family care practice, as well as about 20 specialists. [Click image for a larger version] Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN Photos by VERNON BRYANT/DMN Dr. Lewis Frazier, performing a spinal tap on a patient, earns about a third of the salary he once did because of the village model. ‘Right now, we are not providing financial rewards for practicing better medicine,’ he said. Yet few medical parks are linked to the national health care debate like Legacy Medical Village. Behind the walls, a leaner, more affordable and, perhaps, better vision of family medical care is being crafted using several of the emerging health care strategies – techn
Amid the shopping malls and subdivisions of Plano sits a medical park that might pass for any other. The nondescript campus consists of a family care practice, as well as about 20 specialists. Yet few medical parks are linked to the national health care debate like Legacy Medical Village. Behind the walls, a leaner, more affordable and, perhaps, better vision of family medical care is being crafted using several of the emerging health care strategies – technology, teamwork and a Fortune 500-style focus on efficiency. It’s a model that, at least in theory, should lower costs and upgrade quality. And at a time when the overhaul of health care is top of mind, the innovation unfolding in Plano is getting some high-profile attention. “They are on to the fundamentals, the Holy Trinity, of health care reform: access, quality and cost control,” said Forrest Claypool, a commissioner in Cook County, Ill., and a friend of President Barack Obama who advises the administration on health care. Tom B
