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Kevin Taylor, M.D., M.S. and Lori Zeman, Ph.D., Named Co-Chairs of the Educational Effort Addressing Behavioral Health in Primary Care
Media Contact: Barbara M. Fornasiero: EAFocus Communications; 248.651.7536; cell: 586.817.8414; barbara@eafocus.com

Troy, Mich.—November 19, 2012 —Practice Transformation Institute (PTI),an organization providing the health care community with Continuing Medical Education and customized learning programs that improve patient health outcomes and the individual care delivery experience, announces the fourth Mackinac Learning Collaborative will begin on December 5th.

The theme of the Collaborative is “Integrated Health: Promoting Care Model Innovation for Behavioral Health in Primary Care and Primary Care in Behavioral Health”. It will bring together medical, behavioral, and other health care professionals to develop a deeper understanding of the interdependency of the care management and care coordination processes between medical and behavioral health care, which is vital for addressing the health care needs of the whole person and improving health outcomes.

A learning collaborative is a learning and innovation community that links a variety of organizations together to rapidly test and implement meaningful, sustainable change within a specific topic area, in this case, physician practices. The Mackinac Learning Collaborative (MLC) began in 2009 and is focused on transformation to a more patient-centric approach in small primary care physician practices and residency programs. 18 Detroit-area practices/providers participated in MLC III, which ended in September 2012.

Leading the Mackinac Learning Collaborative IV are co-chairs Kevin M. Taylor, M.D., M.S., who served as chair of MLC-III, and Lori Zeman, Ph.D. Dr. Zeman and Dr. Taylor will lead select MLC sessions, serve as a resource to participant physicians and their practice teams and work with curriculum designers to ensure that MLC-IV content is appropriate and immediately applicable. Dr. Taylor has a strong interest in primary and patient-centered care. He is a practicing internist at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor and Chief Medical Director for the St. Joseph Mercy Medical Group.

Dr. Zeman is an Assistant Professor in the Wayne State University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences. Her work focuses on integrating mental health into medical settings to increase access to mental health services for underserved populations and address behaviors that can enhance or impede overall health and wellbeing. Dr. Zeman also coaches pre- doctoral psychology interns and residents on ways to enhance their patients’ health behaviors using motivational interviewing and other evidence-based interventions.

To date, the majority of MLC participants have sought and received Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) designation based on the changes they implemented in their practices as a result of the MLC experience. The learning collaborative fosters an atmosphere of collegiality as physicians and their practice teams seek to adopt the most advanced approaches for care model innovation and redesigning and nurturing their practices. The MLC-IV curriculum includes quarterly in-person meetings in Detroit and regular on-line study, support from quality improvement specialists, chats and other forms of educational instruction. CME classes that complement the MLC-IV curriculum are also offered through PTI at its Physician Training Center in Madison Heights, Michigan.

Physicians interested in participating in Mackinac Learning Collaborative IV should contact Harmony Kinkle, PTI Director of Operations, at 248.475.4736 or hkinkle@transformcoach.org. For a CME schedule of classes offered through PTI, please visit www.transformcoach.org.

About Practice Transformation Institute (PTI)
Practice Transformation Institute is Michigan’s leading provider of CME and IACET accredited experiential learning programs for the Patient-Centered Medical Home and other primary care transformation initiatives. Practice Transformation Institute is a founding partner of the Mackinac Learning Collaborative, a learning community linking Michigan physicians with their peers to rapidly test and implement meaningful, sustainable change within their primary care practices. PTI also runs the Physician Training Center in Madison Heights. Learn more about Practice Transformation Institute and the Mackinac Learning Collaborative at www.transformcoach.org.