Are you ready for the medical home?

It’s been a year since the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) launched its patient-centered medical home designation program. Through December, the organization had received applications from approximately 120 practices, according to Eric Williams, NCQA product development manager. One of these was from Joseph Mambu, MD, of Lower Gwynned, Pa. Mambu learned last month that his three-physician family medicine practice had earned the highest level of recognition possible, tier 3, from NCQA. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has yet to announce the regions where its medical home demonstration project will be carried out, but Mambu is hoping to be able to participate in this and other pilot projects in his area. According to a recent AAFP survey, 74 percent of the family physicians who responded were very or somewhat interested in having their practice recognized as a patient-centered medical home, but Mambu must be among the first to have completed the process.

We’re hoping to publish an article about Dr. Mambu’s group’s experience in an upcoming issue of FPM. In the meantime, look for “Building the Case for the Patient-Centered Medical Home” in our January/February issue. The article examines developments surrounding the patient-centered medical home initiative and perceptions from family physicians about where it might lead. Not everyone is ready to pay NCQA’s PCMH application fee of $450 per physician (for a practice of up to six physicians), much less make the investment in electronic medical records that tier 2 or 3 recognition requires. Are you?

Posted at 04:53PM Jan 12, 2009 by Leigh Ann Backer  |  Comments[0]