The University of Florida and Shands Jacksonville have received designation as Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) providers, a program that recognizes practices that use systematic processes and information technology to enhance the quality of patient care. The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Physician Practice Connections® identifies physicians who deliver superior care using standards firmly rooted in medical evidence.
Combined, UF and Shands Jacksonville are the only organizations in Northeast Florida to receive this designation. Those clinics certified as PCMH include Brentwood Primary Care Center, UF College Park Family Practice Center, UF Commonwealth Family Medicine and Pediatric Center, Eastside Family Practice Center, UF Murray Hill Family Practice Center, and UF Soutel Family Practice and Pediatric Center.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home provider program recognizes physician practices that strengthen the physician-patient relationship by replacing episodic care with long-term coordinated care, in which each patient has an ongoing relationship with a personal physician who leads a team that takes collective responsibility for patient care. The personal physician oversees all of the patient’s healthcare needs throughout all stages of life including acute care, chronic care, preventive services and end-of-life care.
The process is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to assure that patients get the appropriate care when and where they need and want it. Nearly 10,000 physicians nationwide have been recognized as Patient-Centered Medical Home providers.
“This program holds significant promise for better quality healthcare by encouraging physicians and patients to take a more interactive, collaborative role in their care,” said Eric Stewart, MD, a UF assistant professor of Community Health and Family Medicine in Jacksonville. “Care is further enhanced through open scheduling, expanded office hours and improved communication between patients, physicians and staff.”
PCMH is an alliance of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP), the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), leading health benefits companies, national consumer groups and employers. Services are available to children, youth and adults and are sanctioned by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), supported insurance carriers and major employers as a means to improve access, enhance quality and control healthcare costs.
“This focus on the whole patient is really the key to improved long-term healthcare,” said Jim Burkhart, president and CEO of Shands Jacksonville. “Encouraging patients to build an ongoing relationship with their physician and taking a more interactive, accountable team approach to patient care will go a long way to helping our residents improve their health.”
Having a regular source of care and continuous care with the same physician over time has been associated with better health outcomes and lower total costs. There is also substantial evidence that increased use of primary care physicians resulted in reduced hospitalizations and reduced spending for other non-primary-care specialist services with improvements in morbidity and mortality rates. (Source: “Case for Change to the PCMH Model,” American Dietetic Association)
“The Patient-Centered Medical Home has the potential to change the interaction between patients and physicians from a series of episodic office visits to an ongoing two-way relationship,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Patients can no longer be silent partners in their care – they are active participants in managing their health with a shared goal of staying as healthy as possible.”