Highmark effort to improve medical care shows results

Highmark Inc.'s effort to improve the way medical care is provided is showing results.

Highmark's patient-centered medical home uses a team approach in caring for patients instead of the traditional patient-doctor relationship. Among the benefits of the new model for providers in the program for at least a year was a medical spending growth rate that was 13 percent lower than the market trend, according to a survey by the insurer.

Emergency room use was 16 percent lower for adults, 14 percent lower for seniors with Medicare Advantage plan coverage and 13 percent lower for children when compared to spending for patients outside the program, the survey found.

More than a million Highmark members in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia receive care through the company's patient-centered medical home model at more than 930 medical practices. The figure includes more than 70 percent of Highmark members in western Pennsylvania and more than 60 percent of members in the central part of the state.