Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative Convenes Annual Summit

Oct. 21, 2010 Summit in Washington, DC will bring new focus on elements that improve care, reduce costs

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Policymakers and market leaders looking for ways to improve efficiency and quality in health care delivery are looking to the medical home to advance quickly and fulfill its promise. Advocates for this patient-centered model of care will converge on Washington, DC, Oct. 21, 2010 to examine the evidence and make the case for a fundamentally improved means to deliver health care with better quality outcomes and higher patient satisfaction at a lower cost.

"Exhibiting the Evidence: Advance of the Patient Centered Medical Home" is the theme of the fourth annual Summit of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), the coalition of more than 700 organizations representing the nation's business leaders, consumers, primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders. The Summit will be held at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will convene hundreds of health care stakeholders united around the Summit's goal to rapidly advance the PCMH model.

"Federal agencies are mobilizing to advance learning about new models of care through demonstration projects and pilots that can deliver results and be quickly expanded," said Edwina Rogers, executive director of the PCPCC. "The PCMH leverages team-based care to improve patients' access to care and enhance care coordination. In the PCMH, patients select a primary care clinician who partners with them and puts them in the center of care. Supporting that model will require changes in how we pay for care, and adoption of health technology tools that ensure the right information is available to the right provider at the point of care."

During the Summit, experts from across the country will present new findings and examine the evidence for the PCMH, from reduced emergency room visits and re-hospitalizations to improved patient and physician satisfaction. Panel topics for the Summit will focus discussion on regulatory implementation of new models of care; standards-setting and recognition of the medical home; advancing primary care models; success stories and "lessons learned" from the field; and successful health information technology implementation in coordination with the medical home.

Panel speakers for the PCPCC Summit include:

• Peter V. Lee, JD, director of delivery system reform, Office of Health Reform, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (Invited)
• Richard J. Gilfillan, MD, director of performance based payment policy, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (Invited)
• Margaret O'Kane, MHS, president, NCQA
• Alan P. Spielman, president and CEO, URAC (Invited)
• Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, president, The Joint Commission (Invited)
• John E. Burke, PhD, executive vice president and CEE, Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (Invited)
• Karen Boudreau, MD, senior vice president and medical director, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
• John E. Wyand, associate, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. (Invited)
• Joel D. Howell, MD, PhD, professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of History, and Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan School of Public Health (Invited)
• Robert F. Austin, MD, president, R J Austin Consulting, Development and Training
• Robert L. Phillips, Jr., MD, MSPH, director, The Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care (Invited)
• Margaret Kirkegaard, MD, MPH, medical director, Illinois Health Connect Automated Health System
• Carrie E. Nelson, MD, MS, FAAFP, medical director, McKesson's Your Healthcare Plus Medicaid Disease Management Program in Illinois
• Richard Popiel, MD, MBA, president and chief operating officer, Horizon Healthcare Innovations, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (Invited)
• John Steidl, principal, Thomas Group, Inc.
• Craig Brammer, deputy director, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (Invited)
• Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, executive director, John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation, Massachusetts General Hospital

To register for the PCPCC's Annual Summit or to view a complete agenda, go to http://www.pcpcc.net/event/meeting/10-21-10.

The PCPCC is organized and financed to provide better outcomes for patients, more efficient payment to physicians and better value, accountability and transparency to purchasers and consumers. Studies of the PCMH model show that it improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. It also lowers health care costs by improving care coordination and communication between primary care physicians and their patients.

About the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of more than 700 major employers, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians, and other stakeholders who have joined to advance the patient centered medical home. The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. For more information on the patient centered medical home and a complete list of the PCPCC members, please visit http://www.pcpcc.net/.

SOURCE The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative