The concept of patient-centered medical home emerged from the need to control cost of care, improve quality and coordination of care. Coined by the American Academy of Pediatrics long back in 1967, the idea was put into practice by the American Academy of Family Medicine in 2002.
According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), patient-centered approach is a care model in which “patients have a direct relationship with a provider. The provider in turn co-ordinates with a team of healthcare professionals and arranges for appropriate care with other qualified providers as needed. The non-profit Organization provides medical home recognition to nearly 4,000 practices where few Specialties are also included.
The patient-centered care model is one important step that the Department of Health has taken to deliver care at reduced costs. Funding arrangements towards this have been made by the Health Department to set up the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in order to commission Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) under the guidance of patients and healthcare providers.
Advantages
Integrated delivery system models in a patient-centered medical home can be cost effective as hospital admission of patients and their visit to the emergency departments significantly comes down. Some of the major projects that have shown significant cost-savings are Johns Hopkins Guided Care program, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina and projects in several other hospitals in which substantial reduction in hospital days and in medical and pharmacy costs have been registered. “Out of 372 single-specialty cardiology and endocrinology practices it was found that 84.6% of Specialty practices served as the source of primary care for 10% of their patients. An additional 13.7% constituted the primary care source for 10% to 50% of patients, and 1.7% for more than 50% of patients,” reports a recent American Medical Association blog quoting from The New England Journal of Medicine published in April 2010.
Approaching Patient-Centered Care
There are several issues that need to be considered by Specialty practices before moving ahead, inform those working on the patient-centered Medical home concept. “They need to focus on their strengths,” says Tricia Barret, vice president of product development at the NCQA, because running a patient-centered medical home is not the same as general practice and may not suit all. “For some it may be suitable to become a full fledged medical home while others may find it convenient to be a part of the medical home neighborhood with closer primary care practice serving as the center,” writes Victoria Stagg Elliott in the American Medical Association blog. Also the technology that is going to be used, requirement of personnel for coordinating care, and the extent of data-access from the patients’ standpoint are some of the other major issues that Specialties have to deal with.
Partnership with individual patients, their physicians and their family plays an important role in improving patient outcomes at reduced spending. Ongoing healthcare reform policies support participation of Specialty practices in this care model. FDA is in the process of finalizing regulations for use of Medical Device Data Systems giving patient-centered approach a complete make-over which Specialty practices cannot afford to ignore.
InterGlobe Complaints are misleading
The airline industry is a huge and emerging industry. Air travel plays a very important role in the development of economic expansion and world businesses. It is expanding with respect to both business purposes and leisure travels.
QVI Points: An innovative concept that adds pleasure to your holidays
With our monotonous and extremely rigorous daily work schedules, taking out time to relax and distress has become a dream.
Understanding the Swiss E-Learning Institute- Wealth Management Course
The increasing importance of the Internet has significantly created an impact on our lives. In the virtual world, we can network on social media platforms and even purchase different kinds of products that add value to our lives.
