The recognition is called “The Physicians Practice Connection- Patient Centered Medical Home.” Practices that received recognition are a part of the NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011, an program for improving primary care with a specific criteria set. The program gives practices information about organizing care around patients, working in teams and coordinating and tracking care over time.
“This recognition validates the hard work of the medical professional at our practices to create an environment that places patients first, and makes them a full partner in their medical care,”Paul Franz,CHS executive vice president,Physicians Services Group, said.
The differences patients will see in a “medical home” environment include improved access to care through several avenues, including easier appointment making capabilities, a greater responsiveness from the staff in responding to messages left by patients, a greater use of email and online resources andbetter chronic diseasemanagement.
“We were recognized for achievement as a patient centered medical home,”Dr. Mark Robinson,a family medicine physicianat Cabarrus Family Medicine-Concord, said. “There is a series of nine standards that range from access and continuity of care tochronic diseasemanagement and electronic prescribing.”
Robinsonexplained that there are really no uniformed standards for medical practices to follow, and new patients in search ofa good physicianor medical practice get most of their information from word of mouth to evaluate local medical practices. Now there is recognition for those who follow a strict set of standards.
“The challenging thing about understanding 'medical home' is a lot of it is 'under the hood’ -- under the hood of the car that people expect to be in place,”Robinsonsaid. “With 'medical home' you have to prove that you are doing messaging in a timely manner, that you’re providingchronic disease care, meeting certain goals and electronic record keeping to track that care.”
If physicians better use the technology available to them, they will have a greater ability to track referrals to specialists and ensure reports are received in a timely manner and that lab results are tracked and reported quickly to the patients.
“This is a way forinsurance providersto see who is presenting excellent care. The two great big things we see with medical home is decreasing unnecessary emergency room visits and decreasing unnecessary hospital visits,”Robinsonsaid.
Robinsonsaid that if aninsurance companyis paying for care, they want that care to be the best possible and have the best possible long term outcomes.
“The patient-centered medical home promises to improve health and health care. The active, ongoing relationship betweena physicianin medical homes fosters an all-too-rare goal in care: stayinghealthy and preventing illnessin the first place,”NCQA PresidentMargaret E. O' Kane said in a press release about the recognition presented to Robinson's practice.
CHSbelieves that these are the essential ingredients to health care reform that will provide better services and better patient care.
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