Joint Commission to accredit medical homes

The Joint Commission (JC) is developing standards to designate its accredited ambulatory healthcare organizations with a "Primary Care Home" status, the organization announced in September.

Currently, the dominant Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition program is awarded by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Similar to the PCMH recognition, the JC's Primary Care Home is a care model in which services are provided to patients by a primary care physician or team that increases access to its services, tracks and coordinates a patient's care delivered by other practitioners, uses evidence- based protocols, and focuses more on patient and family education and self-management, according to the JC.