Provider Story: Dr. Robert Berk
Robert Berk, MD, is a senior physician with Center for Women’s Health in Pennsylvania. Learn more about his experience with joining Axia Women’s Health through the interview below.
Q: What first interested you in joining the Axia Women’s Health Network?
Dr. Berk: As a mid-sized OB/GYN practice, Center for Women’s Health had few resources to leverage in keeping up with the evolution of healthcare. Our ability to negotiate payor contracts was limited, at best. We were particularly interested in the administrative services and support Axia could provide – from human resources to financial assistance.
Our providers wanted to continue to raise the bar in providing quality care, and it was getting increasingly difficult to do so on top of managing back-office operations. We knew joining a larger network would allow us to better leverage resources and focus on patient care, which, after all, is our true passion.
Q: How has joining Axia Women’s Health has allowed you to achieve your goal of improving patient care?
Dr. Berk: Since joining the network 14 months ago, we’ve had the opportunity to advance our offerings. For example, we have launched a more established minimally invasive surgery program, which allows us to perform more in-office procedures to benefit women. From hysteroscopies to endometrial ablations, we’re offering sophisticated procedures without a trip to the hospital, which helps with recovery time and often lowers the financial burden for the patient who no longer requires a hospital bill. It’s been great to leverage the expertise and operational intelligence Axia offers to run these programs well. We haven’t had to reinvent the wheel and are making significant progress.
Q: How has your practice benefited financially from your integration with Axia Women’s Health ?
Dr. Berk: We’ve benefited economically from Axia’s contracting expertise, including its ability to develop value-based programs with payors. These programs rewards physicians for lowering the overall cost of care, while at the same time improving patient care. So as we’ve been able to improve clinical quality, we’re being recognized with shared savings through improved outcomes.
Q: What advice do you have to share with other practices considering integration with a larger network?
Dr. Berk: If you run a small- to mid-sized practice, you really need to be looking at where medicine will be in the next three to five years. How will you, as an independent practice, survive the inevitable challenges coming your way? Changes in population health management, reporting requirements, maintaining income… you need to ensure you have the right support in place, and that’s the value of joining a single-specialty network that’s not associated with a system. You’re getting focused, specialty-specific expertise and support to help you navigate the rough waters our industry can create.
To learn more about integration with Axia Women’s Health, click here.