Incremental Effort Can Craft the Patient-Centered Medical Home

Achieving patient-centered medical home recognition takes time, resources, guidance, and a dedication to holistic practice transformation, but the process doesn’t necessarily have to be a single, big-bang effort. While certain criteria must be met in order to snag the coveted designation from the NCQA or other accrediting bodies, healthcare providers are allowed to work towards their population health management and care coordination goals at their own pace before signing up for an assessment.

In this installment of HealthITAnalytics.com’s practice transformation series, Pam Minichiello, Project Director at the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), details her experiences with leading healthcare providers towards their patient-centered medical home recognition and explains how small changes can bring big results for organizations that invest in more coordinated, patient-centered care.

“I think that anybody can do it,” Minichiello says.  “Is it easier for some organizations rather than others?  Yes, absolutely.  But it really is dependent upon their commitment to the process and what their drivers are. It does take resources.  But it also drives efficiency within the practice.  It increases patient satisfaction, overall performance, as well as population health management.  It’s so important to use these models to meet the challenges that are going on right now in healthcare.”

MAeHC has been helping to bring EHR adoption, health information exchange, and other health IT expertise to Northeastern communities for more than a decade, focusing on driving interoperability, clinical analytics, population health management, and care coordination throughout New York and New England.  Minichiello has been doing her part with MAeHC since 2008 by consulting with and educating organizations angling to implement NCQA PCMH protocols.