Jackson Surgical Associates, P.A., has taken an important step to ensure it continues to provide quality health care and control health costs in the upcoming days of health care reform.

“We are pleased to be among the first physicians in West Tennessee to partner with Vanderbilt University Medical Center by participating in the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network (VHAN),” said Dean Currie, M.D., who practices at Jackson Surgical Associates.

“This affiliation allows us to partner with Vanderbilt and other hospital systems and providers to improve quality of care and help keep costs down. It’s a clinically integrated network to deal with present and future health care issues.”

As of winter 2013, 34 hospitals, including Jackson-Madison County General Hospital, and thousands of doctors have signed on to VHAN, said Dr. Currie. “It will be one of the largest networks in the country that gives patients access to high quality hospitals and physicians.”

Vanderbilt is selecting the hospitals for the network; physicians go through a credentialing process before they can join. “Having physicians like those at Jackson Surgical in VHAN strengthens the network and gives patients quality choices in providers,” said Michael Anctil, Director of Network Development for VHAN.

“This is a good step for our clinic,” said Dr. Currie, who practices with Dr. David Villarreal, Dr. David Laird, Dr. Daniel Day and Dr. Garrison Smith. “It makes us ready for new initiatives coming from CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), pay-for-performance and accountable care organizations.”

Jackson Surgical physicians are board-certified general surgeons who specialize in diseases of the breast, and surgery of the G.I. tract (stomach, colon, small intestine and gallbladder), vascular system, endocrine organs (thyroid and parathyroid) and many other diseases. The first group of area residents who will receive health care from providers in the Vanderbilt Health Affiliated Network will be the employees of West Tennessee Healthcare, Dr. Currie said.

At this point, VHAN covers about 55,000 lives, including Vanderbilt employees, Anctil said. “The number is expected to reach more than 100,000 people by 2015.”

Clinically integrated networks may not be new around the country, but they are new in Tennessee, Anctil said. “Clinical integration is an effort among physicians, often in collaboration with a hospital or health system, to develop ongoing clinical initiatives that control costs and improve the quality of health care services.”

Over the next few years, he further explained, payers (led by Medicare) will shift toward new reimbursement models that put physicians and hospitals at more risk for cost and quality outcomes. These new payment structures include increased use of pay-for-performance bonuses; “bundles” that combine hospital and physician payment for an inpatient stay or episode of care; and shared-savings contracts that pay provider groups a portion of any cost savings achieved.

“Clinical integration like that provided by VHAN provides a framework for physicians and hospitals to proactively work together on improving efficiency, coordination, and consistency of care for success under these new payment models,” said Dr. Currie.

Featured Doctor

Dean Currie, M.D. General Surgery

Board certified in general surgery, Dr. Currie was raised in Jackson and joined Jackson Surgical Associates in 1990. He received his medical education at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and his residency in general surgery at the University of Texas in San Antonio.

Dr. Currie has introduced new procedures to the Jackson medical community, including sentinel lymph node biopsy, which helps detect the spread of breast cancer. He was selected by his peers in 1996 to be listed in "the Best Doctors in America." Jackson-Madison County Hospital employees named Dr. Currie the 2008 Guest Excellence Doctor of the Year. The award is based on the physician's care and concern for patients, professionalism, integrity, respect for other health care professionals, and willingness to go beyond the scope of duty.