July 23, 2012 Mark Hagland
blog
A little-known study published earlier this year in an academic medical journal offers tantalizing clues as to what elements in care delivery can actually lower patient mortality over time. Is it time to work forward to improve care delivery in physician offices?
July 17, 2012
news
Sixty primary care practices the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) have recognized as Patient-Centered Medical Homes (PCMH) earned the added title of “distinction” as a result of submitting Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) PCMH Survey results to NCQA. Those who have used CAHPS survey to capture patient and family feedback have demonstrated their commitment to engaging their patients. NCQA says it also facilitates eventually using the results to track improvement and compare performance.
July 3, 2012 John DeGaspari
blog
At the HFMA conference last week in Las Vegas, Marc Halley, president and CEO of Halley Consulting Group, LLC, Westerville, Ohio, described a perfect storm of unprecedented demand, declining reimbursements, and increasing regulations and costs that will affect healthcare more than anything coming out of Capitol Hill.
June 27, 2012 John DeGaspari
blog
Provider organizations have the opportunity and responsibility to act today to improve care, according to James G. Lee, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Adventist Healthcare, Rockville, Md. In 2009, the health system started a primary care medical home pilot system for its employees.
May 17, 2012 Susan Heichert, Mary Bear-Dukes, and Dawn Mitchell
article
Some hospitals and health systems are looking to extend their own EMR solutions to independent hospitals and clinics. The practice became possible with the relaxation of anti-kickback statutes in 2006, but the sense of urgency has heightened in today’s environment. In fact, some organizations are even implementing new EMR solutions internally while extending the same solution to private practices simultaneously.
April 3, 2012 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
In upstate New York, where an aging population of primary care providers is leaving the workforce faster than new PCPs can be recruited, community leaders have founded the Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot Program to increase emphasis on primary, preventive, and chronic care, as well as improving patient communication. Coming together as a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) however has not been without its challenges, which include interfacing clinical information systems and aligning incentives between payers and providers.
February 28, 2012
news
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (Washington D.C.) has said it will give more than $8.5 million over three years in funding to help 12 safety net health center programs in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, implement medical home and care coordination programs for the region’s most vulnerable population, the chronically ill. In all, the funded programs are expected to provide services to as many as 66,000 individuals at more than 20 locations throughout the region, according to CareFirst.
March 17, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
Humana Cares, Humana’s (Louisville, Ky.) chronic care management program, grew out of Green Ribbon Health (GRH), one of the Medicare Health Support Program pilots. The Medicare Health Support Program in 2008 sought to help increase adherence to evidence-based care, reduce unnecessary hospital stays and emergency room visits, and help participants avoid costly and debilitating complications and co-morbidities. Green Ribbon Health in central Florida started as 50/50 partnership between Pfizer (New York, N.Y.) and Humana to provide the acute care management of Medicare recipients.
March 16, 2011 David Raths
article
With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expected to issue rules for accountable care organizations (ACOs) as soon as March 23, attendees at this week’s National Medical Home Summit in Philadelphia were eager to learn more about the relationship between the medical home and ACO concepts and the information technology models underpinning them.
March 2, 2011 James L. Holly, M.D.
blog
The provider must be intimately involved in the patient’s life. A new data base will be required for this work which will include:
February 22, 2011 David Raths
article
On January 31, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) released new standards for its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program. At the HIMSS Conference in Orlando Feb. 21, an NCQA official described how those goals align with meaningful use incentives and suggested that regional extension centers should consider helping physician groups pursue both goals at the same time.
February 21, 2011 Jennifer Prestigiacomo
article
In efforts to produce cost savings and better care, the medical home model will likely create difficulties in patient-physician communication, as well as outside the walls of the organization
