PCPCC Releases Evidence Brief: Medical Home Model Delivers Better Care, Bends the Cost Curve

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative issued a landmark brief documenting the evidence in support of the patient centered medical home concept today. "Outcomes of Implementing Patient Centered Medical Home Interventions: A Review of the Evidence from Prospective Evaluation Studies in the United States" was released in Washington, DC at a briefing co-sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund and the Alliance for Health Reform.

The brief, available for download at www.pcpcc.net/files/evidence_outcomes_in_pcmh.pdf, outlines clear findings: The primary care patient centered medical home results in improved quality of care and patient experiences. Improvements in preventive, coordinated care yield reduced cost from hospital and emergency department utilization. There is now even stronger evidence that investments in primary care can bend the cost curve.

"The proof is in. This document shows that primary care that is more comprehensive, integrated and coordinated, that follows the model of the patient centered medical home, delivers better care and better quality at lower costs. For anyone who questions this, I challenge you to prove otherwise," said Paul Grundy, MD, M.P.H, president of the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, director of healthcare technology and strategic initiatives at IBM, and one of the brief's coauthors.

These issues are important to large employers/purchasers and to consumers, he said, noting that there is broad consensus about key elements underlying support for primary care and the medical home model.

The PCPCC is organized to advance the patient centered medical home, the centerpiece of efforts to transform health care on a national level. The PCPCC is recognized as a nationwide leader of the movement, and its membership has quadrupled to more than 700 since 2008. It represents the nation's business leaders, consumers, primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders with a shared goal to advance the patient centered medical home.

Coauthor Kevin Grumbach, MD, professor and chair, UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine, emphasized the significance of the document.

"The nation is intently looking for health care solutions to achieve better care at lower cost. The evidence is now in from evaluations of recent trials in the US of innovative primary care practices involving over a million patients and thousands of physicians," he said. "The results are dramatic and consistent: Investing in primary care produces superior quality of care, better patient experience, and lower overall costs. This excellent return on investment in primary care makes it clear that modernization of primary care is an essential ingredient in improving the nation's health care system."

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