Patient-Centered Medical Home Is a “Pragmatic” Shift in Care

Becoming a patient-centered medical home takes a great deal of hard work and a steady commitment to continual practice improvement.  To achieve the coveted Level III NCQA recognition, providers must operate at peak performance, leveraging health IT to bring coordinated, high-quality population health management to their communities.

But the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition brings more than bragging rights to successful organizations.  As payers get serious about value-based reimbursement, providers that align themselves with emerging care delivery strategies may be in line for some financial success, as well.

At Valley Health Partners (VHP), the Physician Hospital Organization (PHO) centered at Holyoke Medical Center in Western Massachusetts, achieving PCMH recognition has been one part of the region’s overall acknowledgement that coordinated, value-based care is the wave of the future. 

After significant investment in EHR infrastructure and a close working partnership with the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), Valley Health Partners took an incremental approach to PCMH recognition that emphasized manageable, meaningful steps towards embracing the high level of quality care its business partners are now demanding.