United Allergy Services Teams Up with the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative As an Executive Committee Member

SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- United Allergy Services (UAS)™, the leading healthcare services company empowering physicians and health systems to deliver safe and effective allergy testing and customized immunotherapy services, today announced it has joined the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) as an Executive Committee member. The Executive Committee guides the efforts of the PCPCC, which aims to advance an effective health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). Through this collaboration, UAS will become a profound contributor to the PCMH movement and will help to shape the organization's advocacy efforts. UAS will also be further empowered to promote awareness of allergy conditions and the need for coordinated allergy care across the healthcare continuum.

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The 60 current PCPCC Executive Committee members include organizations such as the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). As an Executive Committee member, UAS will support the efforts of the PCPCC by participating in the Care Delivery & Integration Center, which works to promote efficient ways in which primary care is transitioning into the PCMH model, and the Advocacy & Public Policy Center, which builds support for the model through public policy.

"We are pleased to have United Allergy Services join the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative as our newest Executive Committee member," said PCPCC CEO Marci Nielsen, PhD, MPH. "Innovative companies, such as United Allergy Services, play an important role in shaping public policy and opinion as we work to support primary care under the Patient-Centered Medical Home model."

Within the PCMH, patients will receive comprehensive preventive care and chronic condition management that will result in fewer unnecessary trips to the emergency room, shorter inpatient hospital stays, and improved patient outcomes. In order to be successful within this model, healthcare organizations must place an increased focus on primary care medicine treating the whole person, and providing physicians with the tools and services needed to offer high-quality care.

The tenets of the PCMH model are directly aligned with UAS' allergy treatment model, which provides support for primary care physicians to fill the gaps in the treatment of the chronic condition, allergic rhinitis. UAS equips family physicians to safely and effectively test patients for allergies and deliver customized immunotherapy.

"United Allergy Services was formed in an effort to shift healthcare delivery away from fragmented specialty silos by providing high quality primary care support services," said Nick Hollis, CEO of United Allergy Services. "We recognize that the support of primary care in delivering allergy testing and customized immunotherapy is essential to improving the care of more than 60 million U.S. residents currently suffering from seasonal and perennial allergies. Our continued efforts, in partnership with the PCPCC, will make substantial strides towards strengthening a coordinated healthcare system."                                                      

About the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative

Founded in 2006, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC or Collaborative) is a large coalition of more than 1,000 organizations and individuals—comprised of employers, consumer and patient/family advocacy groups, patient quality organizations, health plans, labor unions, hospitals, clinicians and other health professionals—who have joined together to advance an effective and efficient health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The Collaborative serves as a broad-based national advocacy organization for the primary care patient centered medical home, providing information and networking opportunities to facilitate support for the PCMH.

About United Allergy Services

United Allergy Services ™ (UAS) brings effective and convenient allergy testing and immunotherapy to primary care physicians; pulmonologists; ENT physicians; pediatricians; internal medicine physicians; and healthcare systems that treat the vast majority of patients with seasonal and perennial allergies. UAS' complete service line features in-office UAS Certified Clinical Allergy Specialist staffing and training; quality assurance and regulatory compliance; and supply and inventory management. By empowering physicians to safely administer allergy testing and immunotherapy treatment, UAS has effectively expanded access to immunotherapy to more than 60 million U.S. residents currently suffering from seasonal and perennial allergies.

SOURCE United Allergy Services