Establishing Federal Resources to Support Patient-Centered Medical Home Concept - 2010
Target Population: General
Summary: This project supports the efforts of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Federal government to develop the evidence base on the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) for researchers and policymakers. The PCMH model is a promising strategy for transforming primary care and improving the effectiveness, efficiency, quality, and patient experience of health care. The goal of the project is to establish the foundation for a conceptual framework and communications infrastructure that will help AHRQ develop recommendations for PCMH design, implementation, and evaluation.
Project Objectives:- Conduct an environmental scan that synthesizes PCMH knowledge and issues in primary care and health policy in order to help policymakers understand emerging PCMH initiatives. (Achieved)
- Develop white papers to fill knowledge gaps on PCMH-related topics. (Ongoing)
- Convene the Federal Collaborative for the Patient-Centered Medical Home to identify relevant Federal and private sector medical home initiatives and how they relate to each other. (Ongoing)
- Develop a strategic plan to leverage Federal leadership and activity in developing public and private sector work on PCMHs. (Achieved)
2010 Activities: This project reconvened the Federal Collaborative on the PCMH to improve coordination and collaboration among Federal agencies working on PCMH-related projects. The collaborative includes more than 172 members representing 14 agencies and departments. Members communicate through face-to-face meetings, a Federal portal that allows electronic interchange and document sharing, and a listserv that allows members to share information, ideas, articles, and announcements about events of interest.
A catalog of Federal agency activities and research related to the patient-centered medical home was developed. This resource includes a variety of information on agency efforts including implementation work, research being conducted, and partnerships with other agencies. This guide will help agencies in forming new cross-agency partnerships and will serve as a reference guide for finding Federal peers with PCMH knowledge on specific topics. One version of the guide was created specifically for Federal collaborative members; another version will be made publicly available.
This project also developed a publicly-accessible PCMH Web site (www.pcmh.ahrq.gov) for policymakers and researchers, at which foundational papers and background information from this and other projects are posted.
In response to AHRQ’s request, the project team also contributed to AHRQ’s mid-course review of their PCMH work to better reflect the emerging needs of government and private-sector stakeholders, and emerging policies from health reform in future work.
Preliminary Impact and Findings: The project has provided information for medical home stakeholders, including Federal and State agencies, policymakers, payers, patients, providers, and the media.
The project filled gaps in the conceptualization and understanding of key medical home concepts by working with AHRQ to develop the following outputs.
- A series of white papers on patient engagement, mental health integration, health information technology, and the medical neighborhood.
- A briefing on care coordination in the patient-centered medical home and the accountable care organization for AHRQ and for a meeting of key health care decisionmakers that was sponsored by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative.
- A series of decisionmaker briefs.
- A gathering of experts to advise the project on the conception and formulation of the white papers as well as a list of key foundational articles for decisionmakers.
- A presentation at the AHRQ annual conference on the state of current and future research needs.
- Quarterly updates to a database of citations listing the leading resources on the medical home, categorized by topic, population, bibliographical information, and keyword.
- A list of foundational articles to help decisionmakers understand the emergence of and latest thinking on the medical home.
- A definition of the medical home.
- A list of key outcome articles on the PCMH for the AHRQ PCMH Web site.
- Text for AHRQ’s public and private (Federal only) portals on PCMH.
Strategic Goal: Develop and disseminate research and conceptual frameworks and facilitate Federal collaboration to support patient-centered care, enhanced primary care, and the electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care.
Business Goal: Synthesis and Dissemination