Patient-Centered Medical Home

Explore AAFP's Comprehensive Medical Home Resources

By News Staff
6/1/2009

A new area on the Academy's Web site is open for business. Check out the patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, Web pages, which were created by the Academy to make family physicians' transition to the medical home as smooth as possible.

Graphic representation of the PCMH composed of blocks reading

The PCMH section of the AAFP site offers a varied assortment of tools to help physicians reach their PCMH goals. The section shows a pictorial representation of the medical home, which is constructed of four building blocks atop a foundational base.

The foundation of the medical home is represented by a single block that symbolizes the specialty's core values. That's significant because family medicine is the only medical discipline dedicated to treating the whole person across the full age spectrum with a continuous and comprehensive approach to care.

Each block of the color-coded house represents a critical piece of the PCMH. Physicians are invited to roam the virtual house and explore all of the resources within each area. The four main components of the structure are

practice organization -- physician practices strive for disciplined financial management, strong staff relationships and a reliance on clinical systems that deliver high quality care;
health information technology -- physicians use technology to run a practice that is efficient in its business, clinical and communication processes;
quality measures -- physicians need to discover ways to enhance the quality of health care delivered to patients; and
patient experience -- physicians create a practice that patients embrace and choose to call their medical home.

Bruce Bagley, M.D., AAFP's medical director of quality improvement, said the Web pages were designed to be physician-friendly and easy to navigate. Physicians can even download a PCMH checklist (2-page PDF; About PDFs) to map their progress.

"The site provides a direct link to TransforMED (a wholly owned subsidiary of the AAFP that helps physicians redesign their practices) so that users can enjoy one-stop shopping for all the PCMH tools they need," he said.

Bagley noted that the creators of the site intend for users to drop in often. "They expect physicians and their office teams -- all of whom have unfettered free access to the site 24 hours a day -- to dig deep and work at a pace that suits each individual practice," he added.

Academy leaders recognize and applaud the work that AAFP members have already undertaken, said Bagley. "Family physicians are on the right path as they renovate and remodel their practices."

The Academy also realizes that health care reform must include an overhaul of the current payment system. "AAFP leaders want to ensure that family physicians are poised to take advantage of any payment reform that centers on the patient-centered medical home," said Bagley.

He encouraged FPs to jump online and enter the site with a fresh look and a renewed focus. "Members should get engaged in the medical home building process and keep moving forward with their good work," he said.

The PCMH section of the Academy's Web site is supported by a grant from Merck & Co. Inc.

Printer-friendly version

Email this page