Value Based Healthcare Delivery: Opening my eyes

Sunny Kung, MD

Internal Medicine HVMA Primary Care Resident at BWH

PGY-2

01/22/2020

When I was in Medical School, I visited the Du Sable
Museum near the UChicago Campus and was unsurprised
to learn that there was so much depth in regards to
African Americans that has been nearly erased from main
stream history 

I was lucky enough to have the time protected for attending the Value Based Healthcare Delivery course at HBS. As someone interested in systems, I thought it would be useful to see medicine from a different perspective. Taking this course has awakened me towards the entire realm of healthcare delivery, which I hadn’t had much prior experience. As a primary care resident, I have always focused on providing the best care that I can to my patients.

Fortunately I have experienced multiple care settings, including continuity clinics at Atrius Health and at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless. Now after taking this course, I see the areas that both practices can improve upon and areas that align with value based care.

As someone committed to health equity and who also went to University of Chicago for medical school, I was impressed when I learned about Griffin Myers’ Oak Street Health primary care model. With clinics located in the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago (primarily South and West sides), Oak Street Health is doing phenomenal work taking care of Medicare and dually eligible patients, especially people of color. With a history of marginalization and institutionalized racism against the African-American and Latino communities, Chicago still has many miles to go to address health inequities on the South and West sides. Naively, I had never previously thought health care could be delivered so well to such marginalized populations. Learning about Oak Street health and taking this course has inspired me to incorporate healthcare delivery into my career. It isn’t enough to be an excellent clinician anymore, I must also create a system in which I can maximize my patients’ outcomes in a cost effective manner. I am hoping to get experience working in the healthcare delivery space and am considering the population health or value based healthcare delivery fellowship after residency, possibly even with Oak Street Health!

As a trainee, it is rare that I get to think on a systems level. So much time on the medicine wards and the outpatient clinic is dedicated to the individual patient in front of me. For that I am extremely grateful and am constantly learning from all of my patients. It brings me joy to connect with my patients and learn about their stories, while addressing the structural and systemic barriers to improving their health. To have the opportunity to think about how I can improve the delivery of health care is a blessing. Thank you for creating this course and allowing me and others to take a step back from our clinical duties to see the big picture.