Improving Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition: Board-Endorsed Recommendations of the PCPCC Accreditation Work Group

The ideal attributes of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) need a timely update. The concept appears to have different meaning to patients and consumers, health care providers, and payers/health plans. Likewise, the meaning (and purpose) of the current recognition/certification processes for PCMHs can be equally confusing. 

Thus the PCPCC Board of Directors and staff convened a select group of experts in patient-centered advanced primary care to help identify the opportunities and challenges of the current PCMH certification/recognition process, especially at it pertains to the public – patients, consumers, employees, and employers/health plans – as well as to primary care practices. To inform this effort, the PCPCC Accreditation Workgroup was formed in July 2015 and set out to:

•    Identify and analyze opportunities in the current PCMH certification/recognition marketplace, especially as it relates to meaningful and ongoing primary care practice transformation; i.e. identify the aspirations of the medical home model of care [with an eye toward the public];
•    Identify and analyze challenges, to include administrative burden, in the current PCMH certification/recognition marketplace; i.e. identify where there are needed improvements in the current approach and/or standards;
•    Provide the PCPCC Board of Directors with recommendations that can be used to help inform PCPCC advocacy efforts concerning public and private sector policies that promote the PCMH model of care (aspirational goal). 
Workgroup activities:

Then, on November 11, 2015, the co-chairs of the group presented draft recommendations to the PCPCC Board. After discussion (and minor editing) the Board of Directors enthusiastically approved the following recommendations: