DGIM Generally Speaking

Practice Spotlight: MGH Beacon Hill Primary Care

MGH Beacon Hill Staff and Faculty

Mary McNaughton Collins, Director, DGIM Faculty and Staff Career and Professional Development, recently caught up with MGH Beacon Hill Primary Care Medical Director, Erika Riley, MD, MPH, to discuss her background and some of the exciting things going on at the Beacon Hill practice.

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Mary McNaughton Collins (MMC): As the primary care team leader (PCTL) at our MGH Beacon Hill practice, can you tell us a bit about you and your career path?

Erika Riley (ER): I was born and raised in Connecticut, went to undergrad at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and returned to my home state for medical school, where I attended University of Connecticut School of Medicine. I met my husband there [UCONN School of Medicine] – a native Bostonian.  After graduation, we moved to Massachusetts where I completed my internal medicine residency at Mt. Auburn Hospital and a General Medicine Fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health. I joined MGH Beacon Hill right after fellowship and have been a part of the practice for the past 13 years.

MMC: When did you begin as PCTL at Beacon Hill and what is your vision for the MGH Beacon Hill practice in the coming years?

ER: I became the Medical Director at MGH Beacon Hill in January 2016.  MGH Beacon Hill has always been a practice ready to test new technologies and expand the way we think about care delivery. We were one of the first practices at MGH to offer virtual visits to our patients as an alternative to face-to-face visits. We hope to broaden our use of technology even further, to restructure how we deliver care to our patients and to keep our physicians and staff excited about healthcare and satisfied with their careers.

MMC: Can you tell us a bit about the MGH Beacon Hill practice – how many physicians, NPs, nurses, MAs, PSCs, other staff? Any other interesting tidbits about your practice?

ER: MGH Beacon Hill has undergone some expansion over the past year. We shared locations with Executive Health Services for many years. After their relocation in 2016, we expanded into their former space, creating room for several more physicians to join our team. We now have eight physicians and have hired two more to join us over the summer. We also have two RNs, one LPN, five Medical Assistants, five PSCs, one referral coordinator, an iCMP nurse, and our wonderful support staff from Collaborative Care and Population Health Management.

MMC: Do you have any exciting practice redesign or other pilots underway in your practice that you would like to share with our DGIM community/readers of DGIM Generally Speaking?

ER: We are redesigning many aspects of our practice as we plan to submit our PCMH application in the early fall of this year, and as we think about how to optimally deliver care to our patients. Our physician/flow managers work in 1:1 teams along with designated PSCs and RNs. We also have plans to integrate our LPN and RNs into patient outreach programs to prevent hospital readmission as well as help in managing our diabetic patients. We have restructured our PSC space to include a call center and have added additional support, cutting our phone wait times in half.  We have moved to a paperless communication system for our physician/flow manager teams to use during patient care sessions. We are fortunate to have a physician in our practice, Helen Delichatsios, who has perfected group visits. We plan to expand the use of these to meet our patients’ general medical needs with a focus on nutrition and its impact on health.

MMC: What are you most proud of about your MGH Beacon Hill practice?

ER: There are so many changes to the practice that have happened in the past year that have enhanced our ability to care for our patients, and have increased the efficiency of our administrative and patient flow. We have been able to successfully implement new practice procedures and make physical changes to the space nearly every month. 

Read more articles from the Summer 2017 edition of Generally Speaking