What is a Patient Centered Medical Home?
A Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a model of primary care that is patient-centered, comprehensive, team-based, coordinated, accessible, and focused on quality and safety. This model is designed to promote a strong relationship between patients and their clinical care teams, with the patient at the center of the care process. The PCMH aims to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of healthcare delivery while enhancing the patient and provider experience
What Should Your Care Team Do?
• Get to know you: Your care team should get to know you, your family, your life situation, and your cultural values and use this information at each visit to suggest treatments plans that make sense for you.
• Support you in caring for yourself: It is important to leave the office with a clear idea of how to care for yourself. Your care team should help you set goals for your care and help you meet your goals one step at a time. Your care team can provide you with information about classes and educational opportunities to learn about your condition and help you stay healthy. Your providers will also coordinate your care with other health providers to ensure you are receiving proper care as well as provide you with evidence-based care.
What Can You Do?
• Learn about caring for yourself: You are an active partner in your own care and you should take time to get to know your care team, learn about your condition, and set goals alongside your provider. It is important to follow the plan that you and your medical home team have agreed upon to get the desired results and improve your health.
• Communicate with your care team: You should select a personal provider and always bring a list of questions to each appointment. Also bring a list of any medications, vitamins, or supplements you use and always tell your care team when you don’t understand something that was said. To better coordinate care, inform your care team when you receive care from another health professional including: tests, hospitalizations, ER visits, and specialist. Your care team is there for you so it is important to always talk openly and honestly and express any needs or concerns to improve your level of care.
How a Medical Home Works for You:
• Better access to care when you need it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Reminders for important preventative and chronic care services
• Enhanced coordination with other providers involved in your care
• More education and self-management support
• Individualized care plans to help meet your goals
Key characteristics of a PCMH:
Patient-Centered Care: The PCMH model emphasizes care that is truly patient-centered, recognizing that patients are unique individuals with their own specific health needs, preferences, and values. Healthcare plans are developed in partnership with patients, ensuring that their goals, cultures, and preferences are respected.
Comprehensive Care: A PCMH is designed to meet the majority of a patient’s physical and mental health care needs through a team-based care approach. This includes prevention and wellness, acute care, and chronic care.
Coordinated Care: The PCMH coordinates care across all elements of the broader health care system, including specialty care, hospitals, home health care, and community services and supports. This is particularly important for patients with complex health needs, ensuring they receive the right care at the right time and avoid unnecessary duplication of services.
Accessible Services: PCMHs aim to provide patients with enhanced access to care through systems like open scheduling, extended hours, and new options for communication between patients and their care team. This accessibility helps improve the timeliness of care and patient satisfaction.
Quality and Safety: PCMHs are committed to quality improvement, patient safety, and using evidence-based medicine and clinical decision-support tools to guide shared decision making with patients. Practices in a PCMH undergo continuous quality improvement processes and focus on population health management.
At Lovelace Family Medicine, we rigorously follow the evidence-based guidelines set forth by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). These guidelines are the cornerstone of our clinical decision-making processes, ensuring that the care we provide is grounded in the latest research and best practices in family medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology.
Team-Based Care: Care is delivered by a committed, multidisciplinary team of providers, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, nutritionists, social workers, educators, and care coordinators. Each team member plays an integral role in providing comprehensive care to the patient.
