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Medical Home Model

Submitted by Dena on 05/19/2009
Region: 
USA World
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Innovation Blurb: 
Patient-Centered Care Technique a Better Use of Resources
Web Site Link: 
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Testimonies/2008/Jul/Testim…

 A medical home offers each patient a personal clinician with a practice that provides better access and effective care coordination within the context of an ongoing relationship.  The Commonwealth Fund stresses that the emphasis on primary care reduces costs and improves quality.  For example, a medical home pilot project at Geisinger Health Systems in Pennsylvania resulted in a 20% reduction in hospital admissions.  In a medical home model, primary care clinicians and allied professionals provide conventional diagnostic and therapeutic services, as well as coordination of care for patients that require services not available in primary care settings. The goal is to provide a patient with a broad spectrum of care, both preventive and curative, over a period of time and to coordinate all of the care the patient receives.

Their Description: 

a medical home offers each patient a personal clinician with a practice that provides better access and effective care coordination within the context of an ongoing relationship.

  • In a medical home, a patient can expect to obtain care from the physician practice on holidays, evenings and weekends without going to the emergency room. He or she may also expect to have medical questions answered by telephone or e-mail on the same day they were asked.
  • In a patient-centered medical home, the primary care clinician helps the patient select a specialist and, with support from designated staff, follows up with both the providers and the patient about test or examination results, reviews treatment options, and helps to resolve conflicting advice received from multiple providers.
  • To carry out these enhanced functions, medical homes require improved infrastructure—such as electronic health records, patient registries to organize clinical information, the ability to review test results remotely, and the capacity to collect and analyze data about quality of care provided.
Contact: 

<p>The Commonwealth Fund<br />
One East 75th Street<br />
New York, NY 10021<br />
Phone: (212) 606-3800<br />
Fax: (212) 606-3500</p>

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Health