Primary Care 'Medical Homes' Emerge as a Cornerstone of Accountable Care

WASHINGTON, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Hospitals and health systems aligned with primary care physicians are increasingly implementing the medical home model to deliver more effective comprehensive chronic and preventive care services.  A new suite of resources from the Health Care Advisory Board ®, the flagship research program of The Advisory Board Company, helps health care leaders transform status quo primary care practices into medical home practices.  The Blueprint for the Medical Home initiative provides on-demand webconferences, customizable calculators, and resource toolkits to the more than 2,000 leading hospitals and health systems served by the program.

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"Medical home implementation need not wait until full-scale health care payment changes occur," stressed Teresa Breen, Senior Consultant with the Health Care Advisory Board.  "In fact, not only is it possible to create a financially sustainable medical home in primary care practices today, but doing so provides health systems a significant strategic advantage as payment systems move towards accountable payment models."

Leveraging tools and best practices from successful pilot programs nationwide, the Blueprint for the Medical Home comprises tangible resources to facilitate the immediate implementation of the steps critical to the creation of successful medical home programs:

• Laying the groundwork for change: Institutions must clearly communicate that the medical home's value proposition for both primary care physicians and hospitals is improved clinical quality, strengthened practice economics, and enhanced provider and patient satisfaction.

• Building a strong financial foundation: Potential new medical home practice costs can be supported in the current fee-for-service environment; in addition, several other reimbursement opportunities exist.

• Enfranchising physicians and patients: The care team is the enabling element of a medical home—physicians, non-physician staff, and patients must be trained and engaged in transforming primary care delivery together.

• Optimizing practice clinical operations: Standardizing care delivery, leveraging a disease registry, and improving patient access allow more comprehensive and coordinated primary care.

David Graham, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Memorial Health System in Springfield, Ill., has been working on the medical home concept since 2005.  "The Advisory Board is right on target," said Dr. Graham.  The materials in the Blueprint for the Medical Home, he added, offer "excellent understanding and clarity."

To preview Blueprint for the Medical Home material, including audio clips and sample tools, please visit our Web site: http://www.advisory.com/public/medicalhome.  

About the Health Care Advisory Board

The mission of the Health Care Advisory Board, The Advisory Board Company's flagship research program, is to track, report, and provide expert support to members on the most critical issues facing hospitals and health systems today and into the future. Our staff of expert industry researchers runs deep on a wide range of strategic, operational, and clinical subject areas, directing ongoing inquiry toward those areas of most acute interest to our members.

About The Advisory Board Company

The Advisory Board Company provides best practices research, analysis, executive education and leadership development, software tools, and installation support services primarily to the health care industry, focusing on business strategy, operations, and general management issues. The Company provides best practices and research through discrete programs to a membership of approximately 2,800 organizations, including leading hospitals, health systems, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, health care insurers, medical device companies, colleges, universities, and other education institutions. Members of each program are typically charged a fixed annual fee and have access to an integrated set of services that may include best practice research studies, executive education seminars, customized research briefs, web-based access to the program's content database, and software tools.

SOURCE The Advisory Board Company

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