Cambridge Health Alliance Physician Organization (CHAPO) supports the needs of its members and the strategic priorities of Cambridge Health Alliance by helping optimize clinical practice, manage employment needs, and maintain focus on financial health. It also provides opportunities for members to pursue professional and academic development goals.
Today, CHAPO is proud to support the needs of more than 400 members (employees and contractors) in more than 30 specialty areas.
CHAPO members work at Cambridge Health Alliance’s three hospital campuses and more than twenty primary care and specialty practice locations across Boston’s metro-north region.
CHA is a great place to work and receive primary care.
At CHA, we see primary care as the foundation of 21st century medicine and key to the health of individuals, families and populations. That’s why we have made primary care a cornerstone of our 2020 strategic plan and are committed to providing patient-centered, culturally responsive and integrated services across our system.
How We are Achieving these Goals
- Investments in primary care. In 2015, we completed major site expansions at the CHA Everett, Malden and Revere care centers, implemented a new model for optimal primary care operations and enhanced our system-wide Epic EHR to improve communication and coordination across all care settings. This is supporting the needs of patients and providers.
- Patient-centered care teams. Our care teams are anchored by our Physicians and supported by Physician Assistants. We have aligned our RNs, Medical Assistants, and receptionists around this model and have added extended care staff in our practices. This includes behavioral health providers, pharmacists, care managers, community health workers, nutritionists and care coordinators.
- Achieving National Recognition. Our work has led to national recognition from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and NCQA Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Home status at 12 practices. We are also among the 7.4% of ambulatory groups nationwide to achieve HIMSS Stage 7 certification, highlighting our advancements with information exchange and high proficiency with EHR automation.
Make CHA Part of Your Future
- CHA Primary Care will continue to be a vibrant, innovative and growing system fueled by a strong partnership between administration and providers.
- We will leverage our special expertise with multicultural and vulnerable populations to help patients of all ages achieve better lives.
- Staff will continue to find professional growth opportunities that are aligned with our vision.
- We will continue to embrace quality to reduce costs, strengthen the patient experience and improve outcomes.
Mission:
To improve the health of our patients and communities.
Vision:
Equity and excellence for everyone, every time.
Values:
To Make a Positive Difference – Community, Integrity, Respect, Compassion, Learning, Excellence (CIRCLE).
Cambridge Health Alliance prohibits discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression.
Our Code of Ethics
The best interests of our patients drive our decision-making.
We are dedicated to the principle that all patients, employees, physicians and visitors will be treated with dignity, respect, and courtesy.
Honest, open communication characterizes all of our interactions with patients, employees, and the community.
We honor the diversity of our patients, staff, and community and create a culture in which all feel valued and respected.
We are committed to using a collaborative decision-making process in resolving difficult patient care issues which involves all appropriate parties.
We fairly and accurately represent ourselves and our capabilities.
We provide services to meet the identified needs of our patients and do not provide unnecessary services.
We continuously improve the quality of our medical care.
We maintain patient confidentiality.
We honor our commitments to patients, staff, and the community.
We hold ourselves to the highest standards in meeting and exceeding all of our professional standards and legal and regulatory obligations.
We continuously monitor our compliance with this code of ethics and provide training as needed to achieve these goals.
Treatment decisions are made on a case by case basis. Our care decisions are based on the clinical status of our patients and on patient/family desire.
We work in partnership with our patients and, if appropriate, with their families. We share information about patient needs and preferences, diagnostic and treatment opportunities, and the risks and alternatives to recommended courses of action. Communication with families is guided by the wishes of our patients.
When unexpected consequences or errors occur which significantly impact patient well being, it is our duty to inform the patient and/or family of the probable cause.
We proactively develop systems to maintain patient and other information in a confidential manner, recognizing the special challenges created by the increasing use of electronic methods of storing and sharing information.
We provide patients and their families with multiple methods to share with us their issues and concerns.
All members of the health care team have independent duties to be sensitive to a patient’s needs and desires and to report their perceptions to the physician in charge. The physician will encourage such communication.
We openly share information with our staff and keep our promises to our employees.
We provide a safe workplace free from any form of discrimination or harassment.
We encourage staff to share any ethical issues that arise for them by providing both confidential and anonymous methods to communicate their concerns.
We recognize that conflicts will inevitably arise amongst those who participate in hospital and patient care decisions. We seek to resolve all conflicts fairly and objectively.
We provide inpatient and outpatient services to persons regardless of their ability to pay or immigration status.
Decisions to divert or transfer a patient to another facility are made only upon patient request or when the patient’s specific disease or condition cannot be safely treated at our facility.
Discharge decisions are based on the patient’s medical condition and readiness for discharge. We work to ensure that patients are treated at the most appropriate level of care.
We maintain a compliance program designed to establish a culture that promotes prevention, detection and resolution of instances of conduct which do not conform to federal and state law and federal, state, and private health care program requirements.
We welcome patient or other payer questions about charges. Questions will be discussed and conflicts resolved without real or perceived harassment, using a fair and formal process.
As part of our process, we will disclose any potential conflicts of interest and take appropriate actions to assure integrity.
We review all marketing materials to ensure that our organization, services, and policies and procedures are stated to our community and patients accurately, clearly, and in a culturally appropriate manner.