Association Between Patient-Centered Medical Home Rating and Operating Cost at Federally Funded Health Centers
The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is a model of care characterized by comprehensive primary care, quality improvement, care management, and enhanced access in a patient-centered environment. The PCMH is intuitively appealing and has improved clinical and organizational performance in several early studies, leading a broad range of stakeholders to call for its adoption.1
It is critical to understand the cost of the PCMH from the perspective of individual clinics. Such cost data are essential for practices to make informed decisions to adopt the PCMH and for policy makers and administrators to design financially sustainable medical home models. Most PCMH cost studies have focused on potential savings from reducing hospitalizations and emergency department visits.2- 8 Although those are important cost outcomes, the savings accrue to payers and rarely affect the finances of the primary care provider.9- 11 The majority of US primary care physicians do not benefit financially from prevented hospitalizations or emergency department visits.
We are aware of only 1 previous study that has examined the cost effect of the PCMH from the primary care provider perspective, using actual practice cost data from more than 1 site. Zuckerman et al12 studied 35 private primary care practices and found minimal evidence of an association between a clinic's medical home rating and cost; however, the analysis was limited by the small number of practices, limited variation in PCMH rating, and discordant timing of data sources (2006 cost data and 2008 PCMH data).
The present study examines the association between PCMH rating and operating cost in primary care practices, specifically among federally funded health centers. In this article, unless otherwise noted, the terms health center and grantees are used to refer to organizations that receive grants under the Health Center Program as authorized under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. It does not refer to Federally Qualified Health Center look-alikes or clinics that are sponsored by tribal or Urban Indian Health Organizations, except for those that receive Health Center Program grants.
