Over 80 years ago, doctors G.Y. Graves and J.T. Gilbert formed a partnership that resulted in Bowling Green’s first multi-specialty clinic. Today, Graves Gilbert Clinic continues to innovate, bringing an ever-improving quality of care to the community.
One such innovation is the clinic’s new partnership with the data analytics program, Preverity. Preverity’s data allows doctors to better identify the things that will improve patient safety and gives them an accurate measure of how they compare to doctors across the nation in availability, quality of care, and consistency of care. Graves Gilbert’s CEO, Mike D’Eramo, said the partnership came about from a meeting with the founders of Preverity at an annual gathering of hospitals and physician groups. While Preverity had worked exclusively with hospitals, they also wanted to partner with physician groups like Graves Gilbert Clinic.
“We spent two or three months working with Preverity and their founders as to, ‘Hey, we can start looking at physician practice patterns, physician claims patterns, and across the country, and that helps us look for trends,’” D’Eramo said. “That way, when I go out to the community and say, ‘Graves-Gilbert Clinic: high quality, good medicine,’ we actually have evidence to back that up.”
The clinic strives to be a leader in quality, access, value, and consistency of care, and Preverity helps with all four of those goals. Comparing quality and value of care allows the clinic to identify specific ways to improve. Noting how easily a doctor can be reached helps the clinic keep the community out of the emergency room, and being able to prove consistency helps patients feel more confident in the care they are getting.
“If I’m a patient, I now have a tool that says, ‘My doctor is higher-quality, they have better value, they’re accessible, and also consistent, meaning that they treat patients in a very consistent manner,” D’Eramo said.
Preverity benefits more than just the patients at Graves Gilbert. The data gathered allows doctors to be proactive in their risk management and track their records, which can lower insurance premiums. Many insurance companies won’t insure doctors because of the risk of lawsuits, so the insurance available is often expensive.
“The insurance companies that you’re working with, you want to be able to demonstrate to them that you’re paying attention,” D’Eramo said. “So part of this is our ability to say, ‘Hey, dear insurance company, we’re managing risk, we’re monitoring risk, we’re coaching physicians and staff, and as a result, we all get a better outcome.’”
Graves Gilbert Clinic is working hard to support a growing and thriving community, and Preverity will help them grow, change, and modernize alongside Bowling Green. The clinic currently supports over 250 physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, and D’Eramo said they are working hard to fill a gap in Southcentral Kentucky health care.
“We’re being very aggressive in our recruitment,” D’Eramo said. “And we’re being very aggressive in trying to create ways for patients to get more access — expanding urgent care, expanding hours, and getting the assistance of more nurse practitioners.”
With over 80 years of service, Graves Gilbert Clinic truly has offered Bowling Green a lifetime of care. Soon, there will be data to back that up. High-quality, good medicine is available for everyone to take advantage of — right here in the community. GN
