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DiscussionReflections

From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider

Thomas Bodenheimer and Christine Sinsky
The Annals of Family Medicine November 2014, 12 (6) 573-576; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1713
Thomas Bodenheimer
1Center for Excellence in Primary Care, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
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  • For correspondence: TBodenheimer@fcm.ucsf.edu tbodie@earthlink.net
Christine Sinsky
2Medical Associates Clinic and Health Plan, Dubuque, Iowa
3American Medical Association, Chicago, Illinois
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  • Re:Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    O. Ann Fuller
    Published on: 31 July 2017
  • Re:Quadruple Aim
    Gary F Teare
    Published on: 26 January 2015
  • Author response: The Group Health Story
    Thomas Bodenheimer
    Published on: 08 December 2014
  • Re:Real Solutions needed
    Mary Smith
    Published on: 05 December 2014
  • Author response Re: Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    Thomas Bodenheimer
    Published on: 04 December 2014
  • Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    William M. Spinelli, MD, MPA.
    Published on: 02 December 2014
  • Author response to letters to the editor Re: Quadruple Aim
    Christine A. Sinsky
    Published on: 01 December 2014
  • Author response Re: Real Solutions needed
    Thomas Bodenheimer
    Published on: 01 December 2014
  • Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    Ronald M. Epstein
    Published on: 17 November 2014
  • Re: Real Solutions needed
    Robert Watkins
    Published on: 13 November 2014
  • Real Solutions needed
    Jean Antonucci
    Published on: 13 November 2014
  • Published on: (31 July 2017)
    Page navigation anchor for Re:Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    Re:Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    • O. Ann Fuller, MSN-Ed RN, AHN-BC

    Dear Drs. Bodentheimer and Sinsky,

    Though I appreciate the articles you've written and the comments I've read, I find it disturbing that there is little awareness that you are not in this cauldron by yourself.

    I do not see that shifting medical charting to a nurse who is just as overburdened and just as burned out and suffering from compassion fatigue as you are a solution. Hospital management teams are...

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    Dear Drs. Bodentheimer and Sinsky,

    Though I appreciate the articles you've written and the comments I've read, I find it disturbing that there is little awareness that you are not in this cauldron by yourself.

    I do not see that shifting medical charting to a nurse who is just as overburdened and just as burned out and suffering from compassion fatigue as you are a solution. Hospital management teams are as disrespectful of nursing as you perceive them to be of medical staff and often we are reminded that you are who bring money into the hospital so you are their priority.

    It may be surprising to learn that we seldom can nurse because we are carrying out medical orders. Though part of our work is to collaborate with you as physicians for the benefit of our patients we also would like to actively nurse our patients. It would help the patient feel cared for and improve our job satisfaction. Our work helps patients heal better it supports the work you do, but when we can't nurse it stands in the way of patient satisfaction and quality care. It frustrates both of us.

    I am a master's prepared nurse working on a doctorate in health psychology, because I believed it is important to understand healthcare from a border perspective. I want to make a difference. The topic of my dissertation is the use of self-care in acute care nurses. I'm measuring the Professional Quality of life for compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary traumatic stress and compassion satisfaction developed through resilience. I'm also using inductive reasoning to answer how the work environment contributes to the use of self-care. The study is mixed methods.

    Turnover rates in nursing have been at 20% for over a decade, because of all the concepts found in the Quadruple Aim. We are shamed, bullied, punished, and loose our jobs because we use sick time. We are susceptible to more illness because of the chronic stress that we endure in our professional and personal life because of our work load and work schedules. We give up breaks and meal breaks in hope that we will be able to finish charting and go home after the 12 hour shifts. We spend more time with charts than we do with patients. I understand how disheartening it is for you but it is just as disheartening for the nurse that is working beside you.

    We don't need physician orders to coach patients, that is our job. What we need is the time to do what we came into the profession to do.

    I would like to suggest that nurses and doctors come together and work like team mates. We practice two different but collaborative professions that, if we cooperate, can create meaningful change in healthcare if we would just work together.

    Let me assure you physicians and nurses are not the only ones that are enduring these circumstances, respiratory therapist and any number of our colleagues suffer the same circumstances. I can only discuss those of nursing and respiratory therapists because those are the two professions that I practice.

    Thank you for the work you've done on this as it will be helpful in supporting my proposal.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (26 January 2015)
    Page navigation anchor for Re:Quadruple Aim
    Re:Quadruple Aim
    • Gary F Teare, Interim CEO

    The authors have hit the nail on the head. It is vital to involve the passion of the health care workforce if Triple Aim is to be achieved. Here in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada - we initiated our transformational journey several years ago with our overarching aims being we call the "Four Betters" - Better Health, Better Care, Better Value and Better Teams. Read about our ongoing health care quality journey at:...

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    The authors have hit the nail on the head. It is vital to involve the passion of the health care workforce if Triple Aim is to be achieved. Here in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada - we initiated our transformational journey several years ago with our overarching aims being we call the "Four Betters" - Better Health, Better Care, Better Value and Better Teams. Read about our ongoing health care quality journey at: BetterHealthCare.ca

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (8 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Author response: The Group Health Story
    Author response: The Group Health Story
    • Thomas Bodenheimer, Professor of Family and Community Medicine.
    • Other Contributors:

    The update from Dr. Mary Smith at Group Health Cooperative in Washington State is greatly appreciated. We are quite aware of problems at Group Health and at many other institutions. Burnout is like a forest fire; it keeps flaring up. We used the Group Health example to show that without attending to burnout, Triple Aim metrics do not improve and can indeed worsen, and that concern with burnout helps Triple Aim measures to...

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    The update from Dr. Mary Smith at Group Health Cooperative in Washington State is greatly appreciated. We are quite aware of problems at Group Health and at many other institutions. Burnout is like a forest fire; it keeps flaring up. We used the Group Health example to show that without attending to burnout, Triple Aim metrics do not improve and can indeed worsen, and that concern with burnout helps Triple Aim measures to get better. Group Health has been an illuminating example of that important lesson. Your experience confirms that organizations must maintain a continual focus on preventing burnout.

    Best wishes, Tom Bodenheimer and Chris Sinsky

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (5 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Re:Real Solutions needed
    Re:Real Solutions needed
    • Mary Smith, family physician

    I completely agree with the comments posted. Until the expectations and workload are changed, there is no chance of improving burnout.

    Just an update, as a family physician who works at Group Health which is mentioned as a success story in the article, our gains have now been reversed. The home model of longer patient visits and lower panel size was not sustainable, I assume financially, and the powers that be hav...

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    I completely agree with the comments posted. Until the expectations and workload are changed, there is no chance of improving burnout.

    Just an update, as a family physician who works at Group Health which is mentioned as a success story in the article, our gains have now been reversed. The home model of longer patient visits and lower panel size was not sustainable, I assume financially, and the powers that be have increased our panels and patient visits per day. With talk of increasing patient visits further. However, the extra virtual work that was added when we reduced our panel size and daily visits, of phone visits and emails etc, has not been reduced. Therefore we are working harder than ever on the hamster wheel... and getting burned out.

    The authors may wish to revisit Group Health to correct their article, this change occurred over a year ago.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (4 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Author response Re: Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    Author response Re: Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    • Thomas Bodenheimer, Professor of Family and Community Medicine

    Drs. Spinelli and Christensen eloquently described the problem of physician alienation from our beloved care of our patients. Thank you.

    It is not surprising that their letter comes from one of the many high-performing health systems in Minnesota, unquestionably the leading place in the United States for primary care renewal. However, I worry that without confronting the mismatch of population demand for primary...

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    Drs. Spinelli and Christensen eloquently described the problem of physician alienation from our beloved care of our patients. Thank you.

    It is not surprising that their letter comes from one of the many high-performing health systems in Minnesota, unquestionably the leading place in the United States for primary care renewal. However, I worry that without confronting the mismatch of population demand for primary care and our capacity to meet this demand, burnout will be difficult to conquer. It will certainly require well-trained teams with standing orders that empower others to share the care with physicians, thereby adding capacity without further burdening physicians [1].

    Thomas Bodenheimer

    1. Bodenheimer T, Smith MD. Primary care: proposed solutions to the physician shortage without training more physicians. Health Affairs 2013;32:1881-1886.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (2 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    Comment on From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
    • William M. Spinelli, MD, MPA., Family Physician/Research Fellow.
    • Other Contributors:

    In their article From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider,(1) Drs. Bodenheimer and Sinsky highlight a silent but not unknown problem confronting healthcare redesign for improvement--the impact of rapid change and job expectations on the wellbeing of the physicians and staff who are implementing the changes.

    For many years, Dr. W. Edwards Deming told us that a critical compon...

    Show More

    In their article From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider,(1) Drs. Bodenheimer and Sinsky highlight a silent but not unknown problem confronting healthcare redesign for improvement--the impact of rapid change and job expectations on the wellbeing of the physicians and staff who are implementing the changes.

    For many years, Dr. W. Edwards Deming told us that a critical component to process and quality improvement was attending to and protecting "joy in work" for employees.(2) Physicians find "joy in work" by seeing patients. They want to do what is right for patients, they want the broader healthcare system to be successful, and they want to be an integral feature of that success. Unfortunately, many feel they are perceived as replaceable widgets in systems bent on converting all work to measureable process control tasks that are not supporting their professional imperative for compassionate, personal patient care that creates "joy in work" for them. In a profession that is now becoming acquainted with metrics for improvement, digitization of data, shifting professional roles and decreasing emphasis on the time spent in direct, face-to-face patient care, physicians feel they have been left behind. In this environment, until a metric for the wellbeing of the healthcare workforce is regularly incorporated into process planning and monitored performance dashboards, improvements will be limited and may not be sustainable.

    Our organization has recently embarked on a significant investment in the vitality of our workforce and the way we deliver primary care. The new design depended heavily on development, planning, and implementation by practicing clinicians. In reviewing our plans, we were gratified to discover that we had included many of the suggestions Drs. Bodenheimer and Sinsky offered in their article.

    In a system as complex as health care, where we have learned we must measure quality, service and cost, usually in multiple ways, to describe the whole picture, we have learned that another balancing metric is needed for physician/provider wellbeing. We have been and will continue to measure and monitor the wellbeing of all clinic staff, physicians and non-physicians, regularly and repeatedly.(3) This measure is reported to the physicians, managers and leaders along with patient experience, productivity and quality scoring, and is incorporated into their considerations as they make real time adjustments to the new practice model. We look forward to gaining a deeper understanding of wellbeing and burnout as seen through the lens of longitudinal change in a novel practice design initiative.

    1. Bodenheimer T, Sinsky C. From triple to quadruple aim: care of the patient requires care of the provider. Annals of family medicine. 2014 Nov;12(6):573-6.
    2. Neave HR. The Deming Dimension. Knoxville, TN: SPC Press; 1990.
    3. Spinelli WM. The phantom limb of the triple aim. Mayo Clinic proceedings. 2013 Dec;88(12):1356-7.

    William M. Spinelli, MD, MPA, Research Fellow, Allina Health, Division of Applied Research.
    Rodney Christensen, MD, President, Allina Clinics.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (1 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Author response to letters to the editor Re: Quadruple Aim
    Author response to letters to the editor Re: Quadruple Aim
    • Christine A. Sinsky, Vice President, Professional Satisfaction.

    We thank Drs. Epstein, Watkins and Antonucci for their thoughts. Each emphasizes the importance of professional satisfaction.

    We empathize with the anger and frustration evident in the responses of Drs. Watkins and Antonucci, and believe that the solutions to professional burnout lie in action for both the short term and long term.

    Practice re-engineering to eliminate unnecessary or misdirected work a...

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    We thank Drs. Epstein, Watkins and Antonucci for their thoughts. Each emphasizes the importance of professional satisfaction.

    We empathize with the anger and frustration evident in the responses of Drs. Watkins and Antonucci, and believe that the solutions to professional burnout lie in action for both the short term and long term.

    Practice re-engineering to eliminate unnecessary or misdirected work at the microsystem level can begin today in most practices, helping to reduce the burden and the burnout. The AMA-Rand study (1) demonstrated that physicians are most satisfied when they have time to engage with their patients and when they are doing work for which they are uniquely qualified. Physicians are less satisfied when performing administrative tasks that could be done by others or that don't need to be done at all. Our suggestions for team documentation, pre-visit lab, streamlined prescription management, expanded roles for staff and co-location (2,3) allow physicians to do work more closely matched to their training and can save several hours of physician time per day.

    In the long run we believe it is also important to address the mismatch between policy and technology on the one hand and the needs of the patient and the care team on the other. Dr. Epstein points to the importance of macro-system changes, such as modifying financial incentives to align more closely with our aspirations and values, and individual acts to improve resilience, such as cultivating mindfulness, compassion and relationships.

    We believe that professional satisfaction is an important driver of other values in healthcare, such as patient experience, population health and total costs of care. We propose that as a best practice organizations regularly measure professional satisfaction and explicitly implement workflow and workplace initiatives to mitigate burnout among physicians and staff.

    Christine A. Sinsky, MD, FACP, Vice President, Professional Satisfaction, American Medical Association.

    1. Friedberg MW, Chen PG, Van Busum KR, et al. Factors affecting physician professional satisfaction and their implications for patient care, health systems and health policy. Rand Corporation 2013. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR400/RR439/RAND_RR439.pdf. Accessed Jul 15, 2014.
    2. Sinsky CA, Willard-Grace R, Schutzbank AM, Sinsky TA, Margolius D,Bodenheimer T. In search of joy in practice: a report of 23 high-functioning primary care practices. Ann Fam Med. 2013;11(3):272-278.
    3. Bodenheimer T, Sinsky CA. From triple to quadruple aim: Care of the patient requires care of the provider. Ann Fam Med. 2014;12(6):573-576.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (1 December 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Author response Re: Real Solutions needed
    Author response Re: Real Solutions needed
    • Thomas Bodenheimer, Professor of Family & Community Medicine.

    Dear Dr. Antonucci,

    Thank you so much for your letter in response to the article "From Triple to Quadruple Aim (Ann Fam Med 2014;12:573-6)." You are so correct: the fundamental problem with primary care in the United States is serious underinvestment in primary care practices, including a major shortage of primary care clinicians which creates panel sizes that are too large for good care and a healthy worklife...

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    Dear Dr. Antonucci,

    Thank you so much for your letter in response to the article "From Triple to Quadruple Aim (Ann Fam Med 2014;12:573-6)." You are so correct: the fundamental problem with primary care in the United States is serious underinvestment in primary care practices, including a major shortage of primary care clinicians which creates panel sizes that are too large for good care and a healthy worklife. The potentially downward cycle of primary care burnout (plus the primary care-specialty income gap), discouraging medical students to enter primary care careers, could lead to panel sizes growing even larger, thereby creating more burnout. While the Quadruple Aim article suggests some tried-and-true remedies to improve both patient care and clinician/staff satisfaction, the solution we really need is a smaller panel size, which allows us to take good care of patients without destroying our joy in medicine.

    As your excellent practice has proven, there is more than one way to strive toward the triple aim. Keeping the practice small, without an elaborated team and with low overhead, is a model that is working well. The opposite model is a large and well-organized team -- with standing orders, workflows, training, and clearly defined roles and team structures -- that shares the work that does not require a medical degree with everyone on the team. Too many practices -- for example the private practice that consumed my life for 22 years -- have many staff members but are poorly organized and do not work. Yet a growing number of excellent team-oriented primary care practices can be found around the United States, though these practices are still struggling with physician overwork. Is one of these models superior to the other? Only time will tell. However, while I agree with most of your letter, I must disagree that the practice with larger teams is more costly to the healthcare system. Primary care accounts for a tiny 6% of total healthcare costs; solutions to high costs must target specialty care and procedure overuse and hospital (both acute and long-term) care.

    We wrote yet another article about burnout because improving all those metrics we are tasked to measure is often done at the expense of our own well-being. Seeking the Triple Aim without worrying about the healthcare workforce is a short-sighted strategy.

    Sincerely, Tom Bodenheimer

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (17 November 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    Principles and dimensions of the fourth aim
    • Ronald M. Epstein, Director.
    • Other Contributors:

    While the disheartening statistics on the quality of clinicians' work life and its effects on burnout and quality of care are clear, I believe that there are some underlying principles that should be articulated in addition to the clear and prescient suggestions by Drs. Bodenheimer and Sinsky.

    The first principle is that people work harder and more effectively when they feel engaged, that is, when work fulfills...

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    While the disheartening statistics on the quality of clinicians' work life and its effects on burnout and quality of care are clear, I believe that there are some underlying principles that should be articulated in addition to the clear and prescient suggestions by Drs. Bodenheimer and Sinsky.

    The first principle is that people work harder and more effectively when they feel engaged, that is, when work fulfills intrinsic psychological needs. These include purpose, relationships, autonomy, competence, and potential for growth. The confluence of multiple megatrends, e.g. changes from physician owner to physician employee, growing complexity of medical practice, abandonment of hospital rounds, fragmentation of health plan policies, visit payments, and rushed visits amidst an aging cohort, is thwarting fulfillment of these needs producing alienation. The introduction of electronic health records has not proven to be the hoped-for panacea. Christina Maslach, who did the pioneering work on burnout, calls it "an erosion of the soul."[1] It is more than overwork, and the solutions should not only foster efficiency but also a sense of shared purpose. The other day, a physician colleague talked about his work as "widgets." RVUs, for most of us, do not confer meaning. For Maslach, the opposite of burnout is engagement. It is not just well-being or stress reduction. Engagement in work can be measured and can be considered a quality indicator.[2]

    Second, the toxic combination of high responsibility and low sense of control is a prescription for burnout and heart disease.[1] Clinicians have diminishing control over the workplace, such as who is hired, the layout of the office space, the characteristics of the electronic health record, scheduling, referral networks and prescribing. With the call for standardization is some need for clinicians to have a voice. Even small changes can yield big differences.[3]

    Third is the need for self-awareness, individually and collectively. One cannot respond well to stresses without some awareness of their early manifestations.[4] Whether self-awareness comes through group discussions or mindfulness skills, providing time to help clinicians to be more mindful of their interior lives appears to have benefit in terms of burnout and quality of care.[5-8] With self-awareness comes greater resilience.[4]

    Fourth, relationship-centered care (RCC) offers promise for restoring heart and soul to health care and provide vehicle for creating genuine climate of psychological safety and respect. This requires a concerted commitment to the principles of RCC applied to clinician-patient relationships, clinician-colleague (including staff) relationships, clinician-community relationships, and clinicians' relationships to self and to organizational dimensions that support it.[9-12]

    Finally, compassion appears to be an antidote to burnout. Social neuroscience is providing an empirical basis for this assertion.[13-16] It might be worthwhile to place compassion as a principle underlying any changes in the structure of clinical practice. Compassion starts with the way clinicians are treated, how we treat each other, how we relate to our staff, how we treat our patients and, ultimately, how we treat ourselves.[17] It is very difficult to enact compassion in a system that does not recognize -- and may penalize -- its expression. Some health systems have made it an explicit goal -- and have devoted resources -- to building and promoting compassion. They see it as in their best interest -- clinically and financially.

    Bodenheimer and Sinsky propose micro-systems changes to enhance the work environment. There are also two other dimensions: macro-system issues and individual factors. The macro-system issues are not just about how much funding is directed towards primary care, but also what activities within primary care are financially rewarded. Increasingly, they have more to do with check-boxes and less to do with patients. The individual issues are paramount. Without introspection about what provides depth, meaning, value and purpose, the absence of these will not be recognized until it is too late. Physicians and other health care professionals are seeking that kind of integration of who they are as people and what they do every day in practice. The solutions proposed by Bodenheimer and Sinsky are an excellent start and should be enacted, but as the clinical landscape continues to morph, the underlying principles will endure even if the effective solutions change.

    1. Maslach C, Schaufeli WB, Leiter MP. Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol. 2001;52:397-422.
    2. Wallace JE, Lemaire JB, Ghali WA. Physician wellness: a missing quality indicator. The Lancet. 2009;374(9702):1714-1721.
    3. Dunn PM, Arnetz BB, Christensen JF, Homer L. Meeting the Imperative to Improve Physician Well-being: Assessment of an Innovative Program. J Gen Intern Med. 2007;22(11):1544-1552.
    4. Epstein RM, Krasner MS. Physician Resilience: what it means, why it matters, and how to promote it. Acad Med. March 2013;88(3):301-303.
    5. West CP, Dyrbye LN, Rabatin JT, et al. Intervention to Promote Physician Well-being, Job Satisfaction, and Professionalism: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. Feb 10 2014.
    6. Krasner MS, Epstein RM, Beckman H, et al. Association of an educational program in mindful communication with burnout, empathy, and attitudes among primary care physicians. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association. 2009;302(12):1284-1293.
    7. Weick KM, Sutcliffe KM. Managing the Unexpected: Assuring High Performance in an Age of Complexity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2001.
    8. Regehr C, Glancy D, Pitts A, LeBlanc VR. Interventions to reduce the consequences of stress in physicians: a review and meta-analysis. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. May 2014;202(5):353-359.
    9. Tresolini C, Force P-FT. Health professions education and relationship-centered care: Report of the Pew-Fetzer task force on advancing psychosocial health education. San Francisco: Pew Health Professions Commission; 1994.
    10. Beach MC, Inui T. Relationship-centered care. A constructive reframing. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21(Supp):l-8.
    11. Dobie S. Viewpoint: reflections on a well-traveled path: self-awareness, mindful practice, and relationship-centered care as foundations for medical education. Acad Med. Apr 2007;82(4):422-427.
    12. Safran DG, Miller W, Beckman H. Organizational dimensions of relationship-centered care. Theory, evidence, and practice. J Gen Intern Med. Jan 2006;21(Suppl 1):S9-15.
    13. Halifax J. A heuristic model of enactive compassion. Curr Opin Support Palliat Care. 2012;6(2):228-235.
    14. Solon O. Compassion over empathy could help prevent burnout. Wired.co.uk; 2012.
    15. Klimecki OM, Leiberg S, Lamm C, Singer T. Functional neural plasticity and associated changes in positive affect after compassion training. Cerebral Cortex. 2013;23(7):10.
    16. Singer T, Bolz M. Compassion: Bridging practice and science. Munich, Germany: Max Planck Society; 2013.
    17. Germer CK. Cultivating compassion in psychotherapy. In: Germer CK, Siegel RD, eds. Wisdom and compassion in psychotherapy: Deepening mindfulness in clinical practice. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 2012. pp.93-110.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (13 November 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Re: Real Solutions needed
    Re: Real Solutions needed
    • Robert Watkins, family physician

    I completely agree with Dr. Antonucci's comments.

    This article could be described as at best, a group of workarounds; at worst, it is dangerously close to blaming the victim.

    It contains nothing about fixing the fundamental flaws in the system, only a series of tricks to teach hamster-physicians how to run a little faster on the treadmill.

    This is exactly what administrators and bureaucrats w...

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    I completely agree with Dr. Antonucci's comments.

    This article could be described as at best, a group of workarounds; at worst, it is dangerously close to blaming the victim.

    It contains nothing about fixing the fundamental flaws in the system, only a series of tricks to teach hamster-physicians how to run a little faster on the treadmill.

    This is exactly what administrators and bureaucrats want to hear: that the system is not the problem, we just need to retrain our hamster-physicians.

    Practicing family physicians see red when, once again, we're told to apply band-aids to gaping wounds; we're infuriated when, once again, we get the Triple Aim shoved down throats and are blamed for problems we neither caused nor have the power to fix.

    Just by getting up every morning and going to the office, we're living the Triple Aim. Get off our backs so we can move forward!

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
  • Published on: (13 November 2014)
    Page navigation anchor for Real Solutions needed
    Real Solutions needed
    • Jean Antonucci, family physician

    Oh my. The authors wonder if improving the work life of PCPs would help achieve the triple aim? May I gently, even humorously but with deadly serious intent, submit that we didn't need another article on burnout? What we need is a job that is desirable so that there are enough primary care physicians to do the work. What we need are very real solutions in several tough areas.

    As a solo family doc with a high pe...

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    Oh my. The authors wonder if improving the work life of PCPs would help achieve the triple aim? May I gently, even humorously but with deadly serious intent, submit that we didn't need another article on burnout? What we need is a job that is desirable so that there are enough primary care physicians to do the work. What we need are very real solutions in several tough areas.

    As a solo family doc with a high performing practice and my own "well synchronized plans to provide prescriptions" (I see people), I cannot imagine finding funds to hire 4+ assistants. That might solve the unemployment crisis but it would do nothing for one of the triple aims-- cost. Paying for, and managing, that kind of help puts physicians onto a fierce hamster wheel. And I would wager that having that many tasks delegated out does little for patient satisfaction, another of the triple aims.

    I know there is good evidence that teams can work in the chronic care model, but lots of time and skill must be invested to manage the team. And no matter how wonderfully it is done, throwing people at a problem does not fix it.

    I distinguish between using teams to achieve practice goals vs. suggesting them as a solution to the dysfunction that is primary care right now. Group Health indeed may have it right. Their solution looks to be time, not teams.

    Instead of having staff do all the unnecessary useless tasks --the staff that will not burn out because they are well trained and understanding-- let's get rid of the useless and unnecessary tasks, shall we?

    Let's get the bean counters to do the coding and billing. (Struck by macaw, initial encounter, anyone?)

    Let's stop making primary care responsible for CTs whose prices we do not set (held on the phone while someone types in our name typetypetype wait, then our NPI typetypetype wait, our fax number typetypetype wait, our phone-- every single time, I mean can't this stuff be preloaded??) We wait to talk finally to a nurse who gives us permission in 60 seconds to get the scan on the feverish woman with a tender rlq mass.

    Let's fix the barriers around vaccines and hey, how about providing physicians with unit doses of things they need one of, but currently must buy 10 of (and in the case of tubersol, waste 9 once we get it because it is no good after 30 days once opened so we throw out 9 after waiting while it was back ordered due to shortage-- because we waste 9 when we needed one. Was that Catch 22 or Alice in Wonderland?).

    Let's stop the metric-measuring time-sucking exhaustion of NCQA and as well MU and as well CAPHS and also PQRS and in addition 33 ACO measures, when even the experts cannot agree on HTN guidelines (if they don't have conflicts of interest) and there is little connection to outcomes.

    When, I wonder, will we stop patching a bald old tire that needed to be taken off years ago? New telephone trees, anyone?

    In an article in Health Affairs a few years ago, A. Milstein wrote about healthcare home runs-- practices that did well largely, as I recall, because of their personal sense of responsibility. Which does not put Cheerios on the physician's table.

    Who would spend 28% of their day unpaid when the pay is half, or less, than that of orthopedics as it is?

    If we want the triple aim we need sustainable high-quality primary care. To do that we need to do some real work.

    I have long saved a quote from Dr. Bodenheimer that primary care is exhausting and nearly kills one who does it. What say we stop burning out physicians by engineering out the problems instead suggesting same old, same old tired workarounds?

    With apologies to the authors, two leaders of the field who work hard, many of us out here on the ground have read this and we agree-- this one doesn't help.

    Competing interests: None declared

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    Competing Interests: None declared.
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The Annals of Family Medicine: 12 (6)
The Annals of Family Medicine: 12 (6)
Vol. 12, Issue 6
November/December 2014
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From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
Thomas Bodenheimer, Christine Sinsky
The Annals of Family Medicine Nov 2014, 12 (6) 573-576; DOI: 10.1370/afm.1713

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From Triple to Quadruple Aim: Care of the Patient Requires Care of the Provider
Thomas Bodenheimer, Christine Sinsky
The Annals of Family Medicine Nov 2014, 12 (6) 573-576; DOI: 10.1370/afm.1713
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • RISING EXPECTATIONS OF PHYSICIANS AND PRACTICES
    • PHYSICIAN BURNOUT
    • STAFF BURNOUT
    • CARE TEAM WELL-BEING AS A PREREQUISITE FOR THE TRIPLE AIM
    • ADDRESSING THE FOURTH AIM
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