Joint Commission to offer medical home accreditation

The Joint Commission will offer primary care medical home (PCMH) accreditation for ambulatory care organizations beginning in July 2011. 

The PCMH survey option will focus on how effectively primary care clinicians and interdisciplinary teams work in partnership with the patient, according to the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based healthcare accreditation organization.

The medical home accreditation option will combine the improvements in quality of care and patient safety achieved through accreditation with the opportunity for increased reimbursement from third-party payors when the additional requirements of a PCMH are met and the designation is awarded, the Joint Commission said.

The standards for the PCMH option were developed with the help of an expert panel convened in June 2010. Input was solicited from the field and the draft standards were posted on the Joint Commission’s website for public comment. The proposed standards were tested in primary care settings in the field prior to final approval by the organization’s Board of Commissioners.

Applications are now being accepted from organizations that are ready for the PCMH survey, the Joint Commission reported.

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