Ted Godbout
Manager, Communications
The ERISA Industry Committee
(202) 789-1400
Gina Jesberg
Communications Manager
Global Healthcare and Life Sciences
IBM
(203) 445-1545
David B. Kinsman, APR IBM
Senior Assoc., Public Affairs
ACP
(202) 261-4554
Leslie Champlin
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237 ext. 5224
Major Employers, Physicians and Other Stakeholders Unite to Revolutionize America’s Healthcare System
Employers of 50 Million, Physician Groups of 330,000 Form Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 10, 2007
WASHINGTON – Major American employers today united with major physician groups to form a Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC). The Collaborative is the product of many months of discussion among employers, physicians and consumers on how they can work together to advance a model of care, called the patient-centered medical home, that would transform how primary care is organized and financed to provide better outcomes to patients, more appropriate payment to physicians, and better value, accountability and transparency to purchasers and consumers.
The views of the Collaborative were revealed today in a joint statement submitted for the record of a hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health on reform of Medicare physician payments:
“The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient-centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. In order to accomplish our goal, employers, consumers, physicians and payers have agreed that it is essential to support a better model of compensating physicians. Compensation under the patient-centered medical home would incorporate enhanced access and communications, improve coordination of care, expand administrative and quality innovations and promote active patient and family involvement.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home model will also engage patients and their families in positive ongoing relationships with their personal physicians. Further, the patient-centered medical home will improve the quality of health care delivered and help control the unsustainable rising costs of health care for both individuals and plan-sponsors.”
Through May 8, members included: Physicians: the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Osteopathic Association, collectively representing 330,000 physicians and medical students that deliver primary care services nationwide; Other Health Care Organizations: the National Association of Community Health Centers, representing more than 1,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers that serve 16 million people in medically underserved communities through 5,000 sites; Business: The ERISA Industry Committee, Exelon Corp, General Motors, IBM, National Business Group on Health, Walgreens Strategic Health Initiatives, and Wyeth, representing companies that employ over 50 million Americans, and the HR Policy Association, representing the vice presidents of human resources of major American companies.
Several major consumer and patient advocacy groups, and additional employer and physician groups, are expected to endorse the joint statement and become members of the Collaborative in the very near future.
The views of the Collaborative were revealed today in a joint statement submitted for the record of a hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health on reform of Medicare physician payments:
“The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient-centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. In order to accomplish our goal, employers, consumers, physicians and payers have agreed that it is essential to support a better model of compensating physicians. Compensation under the patient-centered medical home would incorporate enhanced access and communications, improve coordination of care, expand administrative and quality innovations and promote active patient and family involvement.
The Patient-Centered Medical Home model will also engage patients and their families in positive ongoing relationships with their personal physicians. Further, the patient-centered medical home will improve the quality of health care delivered and help control the unsustainable rising costs of health care for both individuals and plan-sponsors.”
Through May 8, members included: Physicians: the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Osteopathic Association, collectively representing 330,000 physicians and medical students that deliver primary care services nationwide; Other Health Care Organizations: the National Association of Community Health Centers, representing more than 1,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers that serve 16 million people in medically underserved communities through 5,000 sites; Business: The ERISA Industry Committee, Exelon Corp, General Motors, IBM, National Business Group on Health, Walgreens Strategic Health Initiatives, and Wyeth, representing companies that employ over 50 million Americans, and the HR Policy Association, representing the vice presidents of human resources of major American companies.
Several major consumer and patient advocacy groups, and additional employer and physician groups, are expected to endorse the joint statement and become members of the Collaborative in the very near future.
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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 105,900 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.
Approximately one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 240 million office visits each year — nearly 87 million more than the next largest medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America’s underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.
To learn more about the specialty of family medicine, the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, and for downloadable multi-media highlighting family medicine, visit www.aafp.org/media. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s award-winning consumer Web site, www.FamilyDoctor.org.
