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Week in Review: You Have to Pay to Play

You Have to Pay to Play

Thursday, April 4th

Dear Members and Friends:

Payment can be a very powerful tool to incentivize physicians, practices, health systems, and employers to adopt key features of the patient-centered medical home. And in recent years, major payers and purchasers have stepped up in serious ways to speed up health system transformation that is based on the medical home philosophy.

And together care delivery reform and payment reform in the medical home are having significant impact on quality and costs. The latest update comes from the Journal of General Internal Medicine highlighting EmblemHealth's Patient-Centered Medical Home Project. The randomized controlled trial was supported by the University of Connecticut and The Commonwealth Fund, and found that compared to control groups, medical home groups significantly improved hypertensive blood pressure control and breast cancer screening, as well as reductions in emergency department episodes. You can learn more about the health plans that are participating in medical home demonstrations in our publication Benefits of Implementing the Primary Care Medical Home.

We look forward to keeping you informed about additional evidence demonstrating the medical home's impact, but in the meantime, don't forget to join our webinar this morning at Noon ET, where we'll talk about mobile e-visits (register here)!

Sincerely,

Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH
Chief Executive Officer

Free Webinar Today: Mobile
e-Visits in the Medical Home

Date: Thursday, April 4th
Time: Noon - 1:30 PM ET
Register now!

Presented by MeVisit and PCPCC's Care Delivery and Integration Center, Dr. William Thornbury, a Kentucky primary care physician, presents his 2-year research findings on mobile e-visit technology within the medical home and its implications for health system transformation.

PCPCC's Monthly National Briefings take place on the last Thursday of every month at 11AM ET, and feature a presentation from leading experts in the medical home field to discuss innovations, trends, and research.

March: A Tale of Two Systems

Our March Monthly National Briefing told the story of two health systems and their journey from medical home models to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). The call featured excellent presentations and a lively discussion with Michael Jeremiah, MD of the Carilion Clinic and Deborah Redmond of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC).

Click here for presentation slides and to listen to the recording.

April: Q&A with the Accreditors

On Thursday April, 25 at 11AM we'll host the medical home accrediting organizations - NCQA, URAC, and AAAHC - to present on their latest news and programs, and to take your questions live!

Add to your calendar.

PCPCC Fall Conference:
October 13-15th

Our Fall Conference will focus on the medical home's key role within the larger health care system or 'medical neighborhood,' including behavioral health, specialty care, acute and post-acute care, public health, and community and social supports.

Register now!

New Rule: 100% Funding for New Medicaid Beneficiaries

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced last week that effective January 1, 2014, the federal government will pay 100 percent of the cost of certain newly eligible adult Medicaid beneficiaries. These payments will be in effect through 2016, phasing down to a permanent 90 percent matching rate by 2020.

Read the final rule.

Medical Home Happenings
News from Around the Country

NCQA starts new medical home program MedPage Today, 3/29. Under NCQA's new Patient-Centered Specialty Practice program, specialty practices can achieve recognition as "neighbors" in the medical neighborhood by improving access, communication and care coordination.

For the third year in a row, Kaiser Permanente will receive the Pharmacy Quality Alliance's annual Quality Award Herald Online, 4/2. This honor recognizes health plans achieving excellence in medication safety and quality; Kaiser will receive the award at PQA's annual meeting on May 29.

Oregon sharing ideas on how to coordinate care OPB, 4/3. Oregon will launch its Transformation Center to share experiences from the 15 newly created Coordinated Care Organizations.

CPCI program receiving praise from participants California Healthline, 3/29. Participants in the CMS Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative say the program is demonstrating significant improvements in provider performance and is a game-changer for the future of health care payment.