Patient-Centered Medical Home
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognizes that revitalizing the Nation’s primary care system is foundational to achieving high-quality, accessible, efficient health care for all Americans. The primary care medical home, also referred to as the patient centered medical home (PCMH), advanced primary care, and the healthcare home, is a promising model for transforming the organization and delivery of primary care.
In addition to the benefits to patient care, the PCMH model has tangible benefits to practices and its staff. Practices can align with where health care and payers are headed, and clinicians can see benefits like enhanced reimbursement, MOC credit and the ability to better focus on patient care.
Almost all payers recognize the benefits transitioning to the Patient-Centered Medical Home offers the patient, health plan and the practice and provide incentive-based reimbursement for the entire patient panel. The improvement activity (IA) category is a performance category in the QPP Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). It contains activities similar to the medical home functions. The IAs are designed to improve clinical practice or care delivery that, when effectively executed, lead to improved outcomes.
Eligible clinicians (EC) in a practice that have received PCMH recognition from accrediting organizations such as NCQA will automatically receive full credit for the MIPS IA category:
As the most widely adopted Patient-Centered Medical Home evaluation program in the country, NCQA-recognized Patient-Centered Medical Homes deliver high quality care that research has shown can lead to lower costs, improved patient experience and better health outcomes.
More efficient, well-coordinated care
Comprehensive services
Patient-centered, personalized care
Happier, healthier patients!
Patient-Centered Medical Homes are driving some of the most important reforms in healthcare delivery today. A growing body of scientific evidence shows that PCMHs are saving money by:
Reducing hospital and emergency department visits,
Mitigating health disparities, and
Improving patient outcomes.