Commissioning simulator launched

Commissioning specialist Humana Europe has launched an interactive training system to help GPs and practice managers in the UK learn how to commission services more effectively.

The Practice Based Commissioning Simulator has been developed in conjunction with the primary care body the NHS Alliance and Swedish-based BTS, a provider of customised business simulations.

Humana Europe said the PBC Simulator combines hand-on learning, including role play and business simulation, with predictive technology in which the conditions and variables of PBC are replicated through a computer simulation.

The company, a subsidiary of the American health benefits giant Humana Inc, said the simulator was designed to inspire primary care clinicians and practice managers to improve health and cost outcomes through advanced PBC techniques.

Dr Peter Reader, head of the PBC programme at Humana Europe, said the simulator was designed with the particular skill sets of GPs and practice managers in mind.

He added: “Over the course of the simulator programme participants get to see the impact and outcomes of the decisions they make whilst building a greater understanding of the implications that practice based commissioning has on improving health outcomes.”

Dr Michael Dixon, chair of the NHS Alliance and a Devon GP, said the onus was increasingly on GPs and practice managers to commission services in an intelligent way to meet the health needs of their patients.

He added: “By using the resources available to them wisely GPs can empower their patients to live healthily and reduce their susceptibility to disease and in turn ensure that services reach those people with real need.”

The NHS Alliance, Humana Europe and health information provider Dr Foster Intelligence is one of five consortia on the Department of Health's practice-based commissioning development framework.

Link: Humana Europe

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