The Patient-Centered Medical Home and Primary Care Medicine

According to the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is “an approach to providing comprehensive primary care to adults, youth and children. The PCMH will broaden access to primary care, while enhancing care coordination.” The National Committee for Quality Assurance describes the PCMH as “a health care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients, and their personal physicians, and when appropriate, the patient’s family. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to assure that patients get the indicated care when and where they need and want it in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.”

What is the PCMH, and why has it been touted as “the future of primary care medicine?” This blog post on ACP Internist, titled “Can the Patient-Centered Medical Home Save Primary Care?” and written by Juliet K. Mavromatis, MD, FACP, notes that “the PCMH addresses the problem of access to primary care and is particularly appealing as a solution within certain segments of the insured population, namely, Medicaid and Medicare.” Although some initial pilot projects and research have indicated some improvement in care delivery and cost savings, results have been mixed. One hurdle is that “PCMH-designated practices must prove that they deliver certain elements of care to their patients. In fact, to become certified a practice needs to achieve a long and complex set of criteria.” In her blog post, Mavromatis notes that “this model has been criticized as being ‘out of reach’ for many small practices, who simply cannot afford the additional layer of clinic administration needed to complete the check list.” To learn more about the PCMH, check out the five videos below.

The Patient-Centered Medical Home: Why It’s Necessary for Better Care

Physicians can learn what the Patient-Centered Medical Home is and why it is the best way to reform primary care.

What Is a Patient-Centered Medical Home?

Discussion of the mission, characteristics, and economic benefits of the patient-centered medical home.

The Road to Becoming a Patient-Centered Medical Home

Learn from Urban Health Plan, Inc. about the components necessary to becoming a patient centered medical home(PCMH). The presenters discuss how they achieved level-three recognition, how others can become a PCMH, and helpful administrative tips for completing the survey tool.

How Does the Accountable Care Organization Relate to the Concept of the Patient-Centered Medical Home?

Lawrence Casalino, MD, PhD, Chief of Division of Outcomes & Effectiveness Research at Weill Cornell Medical College, discusses how the Accountable Care organization relates to the concept of a patient-centered medical home.

Promoting Quality through Payment Redesign

Panel discussion from the 2010 National Summit on Health Care Quality and Value that examines provider payment methodologies and payment reforms (including accountable care organizations, the patient-centered medical home, and value-based purchasing) designed to reward high quality, efficient health care.