Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative To Unveil New Resources for Employers, Health Care Providers, Payers at Washington Meeting

Topics include diabetes care in the medical home, payment reform and performance metrics

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An emphasis on improved quality is restructuring the way health care is delivered, measured and paid for. These transformational elements of the patient centered medical home are the focus of three new resources to be unveiled tomorrow at the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative's Stakeholders' Meeting in Washington, DC.

"The Stakeholders' Meeting convenes the nation's top thought leaders to share guidelines, cutting-edge ideas and proven practices for expanding the impact of the medical home. All three of these resources provide more than a mile-high overview -- they offer detailed examples of how the medical home is improving care delivery, enhancing how health benefits are structured and rewarding physicians for patient-centered care," said Edwina Rogers, executive director of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC). "The PCPCC is dedicated to expanding the impact of the medical home. These resources are developed to meet just-in-time needs of stakeholders for rapid advancement of the medical home."

"Practices in the Spotlight: The Medical Home and Diabetes Care" lays out the intersecting quality priorities of structured, high-value diabetes care management and the principles of the medical home. The report provides an overview of the issue and provides 10 case examples from across the country of expert practices that have adopted the medical home principles in their care programs for diabetes patients. "Practices in the Spotlight," written by Health2 Resources on behalf of the PCPCC, is a resource for health care practitioners to see how diabetes interventions are taking hold in the medical home context, and how to apply them in their own practices. This resource is supported by funding from Novo-Nordisk. To download the report, click here.

"Patient-Centered Medical Home: Performance Metrics for Employers" was primarily written by Bruce Sherman, MD, FCCP, FACOEM, consulting corporate medical director for the Whirlpool Corporation, in collaboration with his co-chairs of the PCPCC's Center for Employer Engagement. This resource for employers puts forward a set of health and productivity metrics that can be used by employers and their supplier partners to gain a comprehensive understanding of the value of health, and then to compare the outcomes of programs based on the concept of the patient centered medical home from employer to employer. It includes a description of metrics categories used by employers, a business-oriented timeline for understanding those metrics, and eight detailed case studies that demonstrate the effective use of the medical home in benefit design. To download the report, click here.

The third resource is a payment rate brief authored by Michael Bailit, president, Bailit Health Purchasing, LLC on behalf of the PCPCC. Although the PCMH is taking hold in dozens of demonstration projects across the nation, there is a wide range of payment methodologies and rate arrangements with providers within those projects. This brief provides a detailed look at the payment arrangements and dollar value of a sample of 12 PCMH initiatives that represent a diverse mix, including those involving a single commercial payer, multiple payers and a state Medicaid agency acting alone. The brief is a reference for primary care practices and payers interested in creating new PCMH initiatives, or to refine existing ones. To download the brief, click here.

An additional report, written by Health2 Resources and co-sponsored by the PCPCC, The Commonwealth Fund and the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice with report funding from the Milbank Memorial Fund, will also be unveiled at the March 30 meeting. "Better to Best: Value-Driving Elements of the Patient Centered Medical Home and Accountable Care Organizations" is a report summarizing the presentations, discussion and resulting consensus statements of a meeting of high-level health care stakeholders that took place Sept. 8, 2010. Four value-driving elements that are central to the advance of health care transformation -- access, care coordination, health information technology and payment reform -- are brought into focus and enhanced by action steps designed to drive them forward within medical homes and accountable care organizations. To download the report, click here.  

More than 700 member organizations of the PCPCC -- representing the nation's business leaders, consumers, primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders -- work together to advance the adoption of the patient centered medical home. The theme for tomorrow's meeting, "A Foundation for Transformation and Reform," speaks to the centrality of primary care in models that are expanding, such as the medical home, as well as emerging models such as accountable care organizations.

For a complete agenda or for more information about the PCPCC Stakeholders' Meeting, go to http://pcpcc.net/event/meeting/3-30-2011.

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