Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative Unveils Payment Reform, Medication Management Reports at Washington, DC Meeting

AHRQ also announces new medical home web portal at PCPCC Stakeholders Meeting

WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A foundational element for sustaining the patient centered medical home and a vital component of care coordination are each explored in depth with the release of two new white papers as the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative convenes its Stakeholders Meeting July 22 in Washington, DC.

"The Patient Centered Medical Home in the Community" is the theme of the working meeting of PCPCC volunteer leadership, which will be held at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The PCPCC is a coalition of more than 700 organizations representing the nation's business leaders, consumers, primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders, with the shared goal of advancing adoption of the patient centered medical home (PCMH) across the nation.

The first white paper, Payment Reform to Support High-Performing Practice, was developed by subject matter experts serving on the Payment Reform Task Force of the PCPCC. The paper analyzes the spectrum of payment models currently in use to support medical home implementation in projects across the nation. An evaluation of all of the models produced a set of basic payment principles and guidelines that can be used by stakeholders in medical homes to guide and support PCMH implementation efforts.

Integrating Comprehensive Medication Management to Optimize Patient Outcomes: A Resource Guide is the white paper developed by the PCPCC Medication Management Task Force, under the direction of the PCPCC's Center for Public Payer Implementation. Appropriate use of medications is important in illness prevention and can help patients to better control chronic disease. This guide presents the rationale for including comprehensive medication management services in integrated, patient-centered care, and also offers key steps to promote best practices and achieve meaningful quality improvements for patients. The report was produced with support from GlaxoSmithKline.

"Addressing payment reform is essential to advancing the PCMH, because the cost to transform practices into patient centered medical homes is very real," said Edwina Rogers, the PCPCC's executive director.  "The PCMH has proven its effectiveness in improving patient health outcomes, patient and physician satisfaction and lowering costs. Restructuring payment to include the costs of care coordination, team-based approaches and health information technology, as well as the initial cost of practice redesign, is a necessary step to advance the model."

"By the same token, good medication management has been shown to both improve patient outcomes and reduce costs by preventing exacerbations of chronic illnesses," she said.  "Medication management is part of the team-based, coordinated care experience in the medical home, and this white paper is a timely resource that can be broadly used to put the patient in the center of care."

The PCPCC partners with a broad range of organizations to develop and disseminate educational resources about the medical home.  In addition to these PCPCC resources, July 22 marks the date the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will announce the launch of www.pcmh.ahrq.gov, a new website devoted to providing objective information to policymakers and researchers on the medical home. The site will provide users with searchable access to a rich database of publications and other resources on the medical home and exclusive access to AHRQ-funded white papers focused on critical medical home issues.

"We wanted to create a resource that would provide policymakers and researchers with a central hub to identify the research and information about the patient-centered medical home that meets their needs," said David Meyers, MD, director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnership at AHRQ. "This site will play a key part in furthering the discussion of the adoption of the medical home model across the U.S." 

For a complete agenda or to register for the PCPCC Stakeholder's Working Meeting, "The Patient Care Medical Home in the Community," go to http://www.pcpcc.net/event/stakeholder/7-22-10.  

To register to receive a copy of Payment Reform to Support High-Performing Practice, go to https://www.elbowspace.com/servlets/cfd?xr4=&formts=2010-06-30%2006:47:34.445008.  To register to receive a copy of Integrating Comprehensive Medication Management to Optimize Patient Outcomes: A Resource Guide, go to https://www.elbowspace.com/servlets/cfd?xr4=&formts=2010-06-30%2006:58:52.550887.

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