As of April 2013, 43 states have adopted policies and programs to advance medical homes. Medical home activity must meet the following criteria for inclusion on this map: (1) program implementation (or major expansion or improvement) in 2006 or later; (2) Medicaid or CHIP agency participation (not necessarily leadership); (3) explicitly intended to advance medical homes for Medicaid or CHIP participants; and (4) evidence of commitment, such as workgroups, legislation, executive orders, or dedicated staff.
The PCPCC's publication, "The Primary Care Consensus: A Comparison of Health System Transformation Proposals," presents a comprehensive review of five major public policy proposals and their implications for patient-centered primary care; including the Partnership for Sustainable Health Care, The Brookings Institution, Bipartisan Policy Center, Center for American Progress, and The Commonwealth Fund.
Imagine if the only place you could bring your child when she develops a fever or an ear infection, or needs a checkup or a refill for her asthma inhaler, was to a hospital emergency room. Or imagine you have multiple medical problems—diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, say—yet don’t have a regular doctor you can trust will make sure you’re getting all the right care you need to keep them under control.
In other words, imagine how difficult it would be to get all the care you and your family need to stay healthy without a primary care provider.
CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield’s Primary Care Medical Home (PCMH) is a recently developed program designed to provide primary care providers with new incentives and tools to provide higher quality, lower cost care to CareFirst members.
The federal government has launched demonstration projects to test whether patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) can tackle some of the biggest problems facing the nation’s health care system. Advocates are holding out hope that medical homes will help to slow the growth of health care spending while improving the quality of care. The medical home is a model that aims to transform the organization and delivery of primary care. The PCMH model focuses on personalized care, teamwork, and coordination of care to ensure that patient needs are met effectively and efficiently.
"55 percent of the health care spending slowdown was due to a host of structural changes—including less rapid development of imaging technology and new pharmaceuticals, increased patient cost sharing, and greater provider efficiency.”
Improving Medicare, reforming tax policies, prioritizing healthcare quality and incentivizing states could save roughly $560 billion over the next decade, according to a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center Health Care Cost Containment Initiative.
"We believe we can do better. Our group of diverse health care stakeholders came together over the past year to develop a road map to transform the health care system by improving efficiency, clinical effectiveness, and value for patients."
A diverse group of health care stakeholders present their recommendations for controlling costs and improving the quality of our health care system.
