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Our experiences in the field of quality improvement, along with the partnerships developed along the way, have served as fundamental building blocks for our current efforts regarding the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model.
PCMH goes beyond the concept of a physical place and is really a model for organizing and delivering quality health care at the right place and at the right time. This initiative is a natural progression in our ongoing efforts to transform and grow the role of primary care and aligns with the values and mission of our member Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and Community Health Centers (CHC).
The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model is an approach to providing coordinated care for people of all ages and medical conditions. In a patient centered medical home, the patient is an active participant in his/her own health and is cared for by a family physician who leads a team of staff working to address all aspects of a patient’s health.
For a quick tutorial about the Patient Centered Medical Home model
and how it works from a patient perspective, simply click the image below.
MPCA’s PCMH collaborative officially kicked off in late 2010. The overall goal of the collaborative is to position health centers to achieve NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) Recognition by 2012. The PCMH model is endorsed by both the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS). The collaborative will weave in current efforts with the Maine Multi-payer Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot and innovative initiatives including the integration of behavioral health care into the primary care setting and achieving Meaningful Use (MU) accreditation.
MPCA believes that Meaningful Use and the Patient-Centered Medical Home model go hand-in-hand. Meaningful Use, or the appropriate use of health information technology is the information management infrastructure that powers the workflows of the PCMH model. The PCMH collaborative works hand-in-hand with MPCA’s health information technology initiatives to bridge best practices in patient care with the necessary data collection, reporting and sharing required to generate informed health care decisions for every patient.
For more information about the quality improvement initiatives of Maine’s community health centers and the Maine Primary Care Association, including the PCMH model, contact Rebecca “’Becca” Morin, Director of Clinical Quality Improvement.
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