Brencia Bienville, MSN
QUALITY PROJECT SPECIALIST,
PIEDMONT CLINIC
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Supporting physician success
Brencia Bienville brings a unique view to her role as a quality specialist for Piedmont Clinic. With eight years of clinical experience working as a post-partum and post-op GYN registered nurse and a passion to help others, she assists Piedmont Clinic members in establishing themselves as some of the nation’s leading physicians by pushing the needle on quality and patient satisfaction.
“Piedmont Clinic offers me something I wouldn’t have gotten as a floor nurse,” said Brencia. “There are so many moving pieces. I had no idea. Now, I get to help a health system come together with the patient at the center. My clinical background is an added bonus.”
Piedmont Clinic quality specialists wear many hats. On any given day, one can find Brencia providing education and training around Piedmont Clinic’s performance improvement program metrics and coaching physicians and their staff members on ways to reach their quality and patient satisfaction goals. She also delivers insight into billing and coding and what’s ahead in healthcare – such as quality-related managed care changes or government initiatives – so member physicians know how to align with them.
Piedmont Clinic and its quality specialists also help position physicians for a future healthcare environment focused on value-based care, in which physicians are paid based on the quality care they provide to patients, not the number of patients they see or procedures they do. Shifting to a value-based care mindset and model can be challenging at first. “For some physicians, it’s a major change,” said Brencia. “It’s a new challenge to participate in measures that they may not have been measured on in the past. I hear ‘It’s a lot to adjust to,’ but I tell them I’m here to help and they are not alone in this. They appreciate my presence and the hands-on experience that I give them in transforming their processes.” And the support of quality specialists is working.
Transforming a practice into a Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a strong example of changing processes to drive more efficient, high-quality and comprehensive care centered on patients. Brencia is one of two quality specialists serving as PCMH coaches to Piedmont Clinic independent member practices piloting the PCMH concept.
“The primary care practice becomes the care coordinator. You begin to see the staff coming together, huddling daily, and even throughout the day, to anticipate patient needs such as getting lab information before a patient arrives. Everyone’s on the same page, including the patient, and everyone knows what needs to happen,” she added.
And most important, the quality efforts in place at Piedmont Clinic are physician driven.
“That, in itself, is huge,” said Brencia. “I can truly say Piedmont Clinic is different. We’re putting patients at the center. Our doctors have a voice and make decisions that drive better care for their patients. And our patients have a voice, feel welcome and are a part of their care. That really makes a difference.”
