Primary care and the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, are necessary components of any national health care reform package. That philosophy has shown up repeatedly at all levels during the ongoing health care reform debate, say health care analysts. More

The patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, has emerged as a driving force behind health care reform efforts on the state level, creating sustained and systematic change that is reshaping the nation's health care landscape. More

No doubt about it: Most health care stakeholders agree that primary care is in crisis. Most also agree that the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, with its enhanced payment to primary care practices, is a promising solution to that crisis. But when it comes to how much that enhanced payment should be, and what form it should take, the agreement ends. More

Terry Hanlon is a 60-year-old man who, by his own account, hadn't had a health physical since his stint in the army three decades ago and had never heard of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH. Then, about a year ago, Hanlon stumbled onto the medical home model when he made an appointment with Christopher Crow, M.D., M.B.A., a family physician and the managing partner of Village Health Partners, a mid-sized physician practice located in Plano, Texas, an upscale suburb north of Dallas. More

Although many patients might not yet know about the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, family physicians using the model think it won't take long for people in their care to embrace the concept. More

Perhaps one of the least recognized benefits of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, is the opportunity it offers to improve the way primary care physicians and subspecialists work together. Optimizing these collaborations could lead to systemwide cost savings that have the potential to directly benefit all physicians -- those in primary care and their subspecialty colleagues. More

Although most family medicine residencies have begun adopting pieces of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, model, the 14 residencies taking part in the AAFP's Preparing the Personal Physician for Practice, or P4, initiative are well down the road when it comes to educating future family physicians in this new environment. The P4 initiative is being coordinated by the AAFP's wholly owned practice redesign subsidiary, TransforMED LLC. More

A growing number of family medicine residencies are integrating the principles of the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, into their programs, but the nation's medical schools remain reluctant to teach students about the PCMH model of care. They are waiting and watching to see how the model is incorporated into established physician practices, say teachers of family medicine and others. More