Call Agenda, Thursday, September 23rd, 11:00 AM EDT

B. New Deloitte Report Outlines Future of the Medical Home

The Deloitte Center for Health Solutions has released a new issue brief, "Medical Home 2.0: The Present, The Future," outlining the current state of the patient–centered medical home (PCMH) under the new health reform legislation.  The report reviews several PCMH pilots and provides insights on the future evolution of the medical home.  It highlights the expansion of medical home pilots as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) to help reduce costs and improve population-based health by leveraging clinical information technologies, care teams and evidence-based medical guidelines.

The report states that the medical home model's clinical and economic potential is promising; however, the precise features of an optimally successful program are somewhat elusive.  Deloitte's research further indicates the following:

• With significant investment, the PCMH yields results.
• Physician adoption is a major challenge.
• Health Care information technology (HIT) is the essential front-end investment.
• One size does not fit all.
• Access to an adequate supply of primary care service providers is an issue.
• Incentives must be aligned and realistic.

To learn more, please click here.

C. New NASHP Publication - Making Connections: Medicaid, CHIP, and Title V Working Together on State Medical Home Initiatives

The medical home model–an approach to offering excellent primary care–is gaining momentum. A wide range of stakeholders are now embracing medical homes, and the Affordable Care Act has dedicated resources to developing and spreading the model. In this context, states have been leaders in building medical homes – especially for vulnerable populations. Several of the most promising state medical home initiatives have entailed interagency collaboration. This report details best practices and policy considerations for collaborative medical home building in four areas: laying foundations for partnership, and then working together to engage patients and families, engage health care providers and practices, and build strong systems of care. To download the report, please click here.

D. New NASHP Publication - Evaluating the Patient-Centered Medical Home: Potential and Limitations of Claims-Based Data

This State Health Policy Briefing summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of using claims-based data to evaluate patient-centered medical home initiatives. A Medicaid-based medical home initiative in Oklahoma and a multi-payer medical home pilot in Rhode Island are highlighted. Both states are using a mixture of claims-based data and supplementary resources like patient or provider surveys and data collected from electronic medical records to evaluate their medical home programs. Understanding the potential uses and limitations of both claims data and other data sources that can aid evaluators will help states to design appropriate evaluative criteria for their medical home programs.  To download the report, please click here.

E.  Health Affairs and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Brief

Patient-Centered Medical Homes. A new way to deliver primary care may be more affordable and improve quality. But how widely adopted will the model be?

Patient-centered medical homes are considered by many to be among the most promising approaches to delivering higher-quality, costeffective primary care, especially for people with chronic health conditions. Although there is no single standard definition of a medical home, there is an agreedupon set of principles behind the concept, and most medical homes share common elements. For example, each patient has close contact with a clinician (physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant) for continuing care, and that clinician takes the lead when referring the patient to specialists. Medical homes also make extensive use of electronic health records and seek active participation of the patient and his or her family. Health care reform legislation authorizes the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to test medical homes among other new care-delivery models. Supporters hope patient-centered medical homes will help refocus the U.S. health care system on the benefits of primary care. This brief describes recent projects that have applied patient-centered medical home concepts, as well as concerns about widespread adoption of the model before results are definitive.

To read the entire brief, please click here.

F.  Twelve NYC Health Centers Participate in Medical Home/Meaningful Use Project

A two-year initiative launched by the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) and the Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) aims at helping New York City's community health centers meet meaningful use and medical home standards for care.

The initiative, called the "Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) / Meaningful Use of Health Information Technology (HIT) Learning Collaborative," is being supported with $525,000 in total grant funding from The Altman Foundation, the New York Community Trust, and the RCHN Community Health Foundation.

The project was developed in response to two major initiatives. First, the New York State Medicaid Medical Home Program offers additional dollars for primary care providers that meet national medical home standards that emphasize use of health information technology, care teams, evidence-based medicine, clear and open communication with patients, open scheduling and management of chronic disease patients. Providers can earn as much as an additional $2 to $16 per visit per patient through the program. Second, providers who meet meaningful use of health information technology standards can qualify for up to $65,000 in Medicaid or $44,000 in Medicare incentives over five years.

To learn more, please click here.

I.  ACO Workshop Hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) - October 5, 2010, 9:00 AM-4:30PM.

This workshop will include panel discussions and a listening session on certain legal issues related to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Physicians, physician associations, hospitals, health systems, consumers, and all others interested in ACOs are invited to participate, in person or by calling into the teleconference. The meeting is open to the public, but attendance is limited to space and teleconference lines available. An agenda will be posted on the CMS Web site at http://www.cms.gov/center/physician.asp prior to the session.

Join industry stakeholders who have an interest in, or experience with, the development and operation of ACOs. One key focus of the workshop will be to assess how the variety of possible ACO structures in different health care markets could affect the prices and the quality of health care delivered to privately insured consumers, as well as to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. Another key focus will be whether and, if so, how the requirements of the laws discussed above could or should be addressed in the regulations that CMS is developing for the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Finally, the workshop will focus on whether and, if so, to what extent any safe harbors, exceptions, exemptions, or waivers from the laws discussed above may be warranted.

For more information, please click here.

II. Important Links

October 22 Annual Summit Materials - click here

• American Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

I. Introductions

On July 8th, the Center co-sponsored a webinar with the CMD featuring:

• Joslyn Levy and Dana Stephenson  of the NYC Dept. of Health presented on the innovative Primary Care Information Project.  The webinar is now posted on the Collaborative's website.  There were over 150 participants on the presentation.

On the Center's recent call, on May 28th, the following occured.

Presentation:  

Hear About & Discuss Promising Practices in the Field 

Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA, Executive Director of The John D. Stoeckle Center for Primary Care Innovation at the Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Susan is a constant advocate of understanding the patient’s perspective on healthcare. She is a member of the PCPCC Board of Directors and recently served as a guest editor for the Health Affairs journal on Primary Care. 

Summary of Last Call: 

Agreed on goals, domains, and general process for our work.

Discuss Definition of “Consumer Involvement” 

Review and discuss working definition of “consumer engagement”/”consumer involvement.”

Consumer involvement means ensuring patients and/or families provide input into the design, ongoing practice and evaluation of whole person, patient centered, accessible and coordinated medical care and services.