Adriana Benavides Trevino
Case Western Reserve University - Weatherhead School of Management
Chris Laszlo
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For the last 50 years, affluent people have been able to obtain good medical care regarding the treatment of addictions. However, the uninsured have had little quality physician input. “The whole model of our group is to provide high quality services to agencies that serve the population that no one wants to take care of, the underinsured or uninsured. We have found a way to share expertise in a way that was affordable and treat those people facing addictions.” –Dr. Parran, co-founder and co-principal of GMA.
GMA Consultants’ innovative business model provides support, personnel, and expertise to existing hospitals and agencies to enhance their financial stability and their ability to deliver quality care at an affordable rate. In order to provide affordable quality care, GMA employs rotating physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, all trained specifically in addiction medicine. This allows participating hospitals and treatment centers to always have an "on-call" physician supported by an on-site staff available to conduct in person care certain days of the week. In total the group employees 4 full-time doctors, 2 part-time doctors, and 12 nurse practitioners/physician assistants.
This arrangement helps medical facilities in two ways. First, the facility does not have to keep a full-time addiction medicine specialist physician or nurse. Rather, the existing staff have the medical expertise and support of addiction specialists 24 hours a day via phone and electronic communication, as well as periodic in person office visits. Second, by having more basic care provided by nurse practitioners and physician assistants, GMA is able to keep its own costs down, allowing them to also pass on savings to the medical facility.
Dr. Parran, one of the company's founders, made the decision to go into addiction medicine after his residency. He owed 2 years of public service time to the community due to tuition support given during the his studies. One of the underserved segments of the population in Baltimore where he was working were those with substance abuse problems. This population was also subject to strong stigmas. He found himself enjoying the work after he got assigned to that segment and he decided to keep working in addiction medicine.
The two founders of the company (Dr. Parran and Dr. Adelman) started the business due to a shift in the hospital industry that created financial problems in the hospitals where they both worked (Rosary Hall in St. Vincent Charity Medical Center). It became likely that only one would be able to stay on at each hospital. Wanting to keep working together serving this specific segment of the population, they soon created their own business that provides high-quality medical director services in addiction medicine.
GMA Consultants Inc. impacts the community, particularly the patient and their loved ones by delivering high quality medical services to people that otherwise wouldn't be able to receive care. Furthermore, by helping programs run successful medicine addiction programs where good quality care is provided by trained specialists doctors, nurses, and physicians assistants, they impact the health providers in general.
GMA’s innovation through their business model has allowed the company to bring on board more client medical facilities, as well as to retain their current ones. The increase in clients is directly linked with their reputation in providing quality care, and this innovation has aided them to build this reputation. Furthermore, new contracts at new facilities coincided with personnel growth at GMA. The company started in 1990 with 2 doctors and 1 physician assistant, and grew to 4 doctors and 11 nurse practitioners and physician assistants in 2010, and currently employs 6 doctors and 12 nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This growth corresponded with expansion from 2 initial treatment centers to 8 facilities.
Additionally, this innovation benefits GMA by providing a differentiation factor in the health care industry and allows them to continue to operate even with the constant changes that this particular industry is facing. In particular, the need for addiction treatment has evolved from alcohol treatment intensive to multiple types of substances in patients who often also have mental illness. GMA's lean and flexible organizational structure allows the company to adjust and bring additional expertise as the market needs develop.
Having quality physician input through GMA Consultants, Inc. has enabled publicly funded programs that formerly depended on grants to become stronger institutions in order to now qualify to bill insurance. From a justice standpoint, they serve everyone and do not discriminate based on their economic power or the addiction they have. This is something very important due to the current insurance problems in the USA.
Additionally, GMA has unique doctors that provide quality service and try to expand their model by creating educational sites for general doctors, residents, nurses, medical students, and social workers to fill the current education gaps that are not in the curriculum. Educational centers and courses run by GMA have become primary teaching sites for addiction medicine in Northeast Ohio. “We have trained 62 physicians; this will enable us to expand care into other communities.” – Dr. Parran.
As an example of the societal benefits of the innovation carried by GMA Consultants, Northeast Ohio has greater capacity to respond to the opioid crisis, of which “GMA manages 85%” – Dr. Parran. This is due to the existence and growth of public agencies since the 1990s. If we compare it with Florida, a state that has large capacity to face the opioids crisis, but sadly concentrates that capacity in private corporations, the result is that those only served are the insured. Therefore, Ohio is able to provide good, high quality services to all people across the income range, and be able to function as a ‘socially just community’.
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Dr. Theodore V. Parran Jr, MD, Co-founder and Addiction Medicine Specialist
GMA Consultants Inc is a company that provides medical care and expert advising for addiction recovery services across Northeast Ohio. GMA Consultants is unique because it provides quality care for addiction medical services across patient populations including to the under-insured and uninsured patients.