Health Current was notified recently of a third year of funding from CMS to continue the Practice Innovation Institute, the Arizona Practice Transformation Network (PTN), as part of the national Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPI). Launched in September 2015, TCPI is one of the largest federal investments uniquely designed to 
support 140,000 clinician practices through nationwide, collaborative, and peer-based learning networks that facilitate practice transformation. In partnership with Mercy Care Plan and Mercy Maricopa Integrated Care, Health Current submitted a successful application to become the Practice Transformation Network (PTN) for Arizona and potentially receive four years of funding, with funding approved each year.
The Practice Innovation Institute (Pi Institute or Pii) aims to prepare and enable 2,500 Arizona clinicians for successful participation in value-based, alternative payment arrangements. In the first two years of the initiative, Pii recruited more than 2,500 clinicians and was able to track approximately $38 million in cost savings. The successes are generally attributed to the introduction of care management protocols among the participating clinicians, many of which are the triggered by Alerts received from the health information exchange (Health Current).
Pii provides outreach, education, coaching and direct assistance with processes and workflows to move Pii participation clinicians through five initiative phases or milestones:
Phase 1: Setting aims and develop basic capabilities
Phase 2: Reporting and using data to generate improvements
Phase 3: Achieving aims of lowers costs, better care, and better health
Phase 4: Getting to benchmark status
Phase 5: Demonstrating capability to generate better care and better health at lower cost
To learn more about the Practice Innovation Institute, please visit piiaz.org.