Welcome to the Patient Centered Medical Home
The patient-centered medical home is a model of care emphasizing care coordination and communication to transform primary care into “what patients want it to be.” Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and improve patients’ and providers’ reported experiences of care.
PCMH 2011 advances the patient-centered medical home by emphasizing access, health information technology and partnerships between clinicians and patients to improve health. The new medical home standards will enhance care coordination, clinician and staff satisfaction and primary care quality nationwide, while putting patients in the driver’s seat to manage their health and place an emphasis on being patient-centered, using patient feedback.
To an unprecedented degree, PCMH 2011 directs practices to organize care according to patients’ preferences and needs. Standards emphasize access to care during and after office hours, and managing care in collaboration with patients and families. Other aspects of patient-centeredness include providing services in patients’ preferred languages, helping patients with self-care and facilitating patient access to community resources.
PCMH 2011’s emphasis on patient feedback supports what is widely known as the “triple aim” (improving quality, containing costs and enhancing patient experience). Federal “meaningful use” language is embedded in PCMH 2011 evaluation standards, reinforcing incentives for practices to use health information technology to improve quality. The standards’ alignment with meaningful use creates a virtuous cycle: practices that meet PCMH 2011 requirements will be well prepared to qualify for meaningful use, and vice versa.
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PCMH