Identifying Most Valuable Care

Posted by on Apr 24, 2015 in Articles | 0 comments

Identifying Most Valuable Care

What do the top performing family practices do better than the rest? The Peterson Center on Healthcare identified 11 ‘bright spot’ primary care practices across the US – teams that deliver high quality care at a much lower than average cost. (Article is here) They identified 10 features that these high performing sites had in common. 1. Practices are ‘always on.’ Patients have a sense that their care team is ‘always available,’ and that they will be able to reach someone who knows them and can help them quickly whether the practice is open or closed. Practices offer...

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PCMH leads to lower total cost of care

Posted by on Sep 8, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

Total Cost of Care Lower among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries Receiving Care from Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Van Hasselt M1, McCall N, Keyes V, Wensky SG, Smith KW. Health Serv Res. 2014 Jul 31. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12217 OBJECTIVE: This study published in the health care utilization and payments between NCQA-recognized patient-centered medical home (PCMH) practices and practices without such recognition. DATA SOURCES: Medicare Part A and B claims files from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2010, 2009 Census, 2007 Health Resources and Services Administration and CMS Utilization...

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The Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood — Transforming Speciality Practice – NEJM

Posted by on Apr 26, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

The Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood — Transforming Speciality Practice – NEJM

Transforming Specialty Practice — The Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood — NEJM The latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine has an informative article on the ‘Patient Centred Medical Neighbourhood’. The article reinforces the view of the Australian Centre for the Medical Home that the creation of a Medical Home is a necessary but not sufficient step in building a Person Centred Health System. The authors explain that “term “medical neighborhood” has been coined to capture an expanded notion of patient-centered care, in which the PCMH is located...

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2014 Guidelines for PCMH Recognition

Posted by on Mar 31, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

2014 Guidelines for PCMH Recognition

The US based NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) has just released their new 2014 PCMH Standards and Guidelines for PCMH recognition (the previous set of standards was released in 2011) (free, but registration required) More information at the NCQA site The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of primary care emphasizes care coordination and communication to transform primary care into “what patients want it to be.” Research confirms that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and can improve patients’ and providers’ experiences of care....

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Multi Morbidity – Multipliers and Dividers

Posted by on Mar 22, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

Multi Morbidity –  Multipliers and Dividers

What I learnt about Multi-Morbidity at the Primary Health Care Research Conference July 2013, by Andrew Knight

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Continuity of Care reduces the Risk of Preventable Hospital Admissions

Posted by on Feb 16, 2014 in Articles | 0 comments

Continuity of Care and the Risk of Preventable Hospitalization in Older Adults Nyweide DJ, Anthony DL, Bynum JP, et al. Continuity of care and the risk of preventable hospitalization in older adults. JAMA Intern Med 2013;173(20):1879-1885. More evidence of the benefits of a long term relationship with a particular provider for elderly patients. Importance Preventable hospitalizations are common among older adults for reasons that are not well understood. Objective To determine whether Medicare patients with ambulatory visit patterns indicating higher continuity of care have a lower risk of...

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