PCP orgs create PCMH program guidelines
Four primary care physician (PCP) organizations, representing more than 350,000 PCPs across the U.S., have released “Guidelines for Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition and Accreditation Programs.”
The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Osteopathic Association created the new guidelines, which build on “The Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home,” which the four groups developed and adopted in 2007.
“As a result of the proliferation of test projects and the overall growing interest in the PCMH concept, there are now multiple entities developing or offering medical home recognition or accreditation programs. The primary care physician societies have long supported the need for robust recognition and/or accreditation programs to help assess whether a given practice is delivering care based on the PCMH model,” the guidelines state.
According to the four groups' guidelines, all PCMH recognition or accreditation programs should:
The guidelines have been sent to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, the Joint Commission and URAC (formerly the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission) to encourage their use in the development, implementation and evolution of PCMH programs, according to the four PCP groups.
Click here to see the complete guidelines.
The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians and the American Osteopathic Association created the new guidelines, which build on “The Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home,” which the four groups developed and adopted in 2007.
“As a result of the proliferation of test projects and the overall growing interest in the PCMH concept, there are now multiple entities developing or offering medical home recognition or accreditation programs. The primary care physician societies have long supported the need for robust recognition and/or accreditation programs to help assess whether a given practice is delivering care based on the PCMH model,” the guidelines state.
According to the four groups' guidelines, all PCMH recognition or accreditation programs should:
- Incorporate "The Joint Principles of the Patient Centered Medical Home";
- Address the complete scope of primary care services;
- Ensure the incorporation of patient and family-centered care emphasizing engagement of patients, their families and their caregivers;
- Engage multiple stakeholders in the development and implementation of the program;
- Align standards, elements, characteristics and/or measures with meaningful use requirements;
- Identify essential standards, elements and characteristics;
- Address the core concept of continuous improvement that is central to the PCMH model;
- Allow for innovative ideas;
- Acknowledge care coordination within the medical neighborhood;
- Clearly identify PCMH recognition or accreditation requirements for training programs;
- Ensure transparency in program structure and scoring;
- Apply reasonable documentation/data collection requirements; and
- Conduct evaluations of the program’s effectiveness and implement improvements over time.
The guidelines have been sent to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, the Joint Commission and URAC (formerly the Utilization Review Accreditation Commission) to encourage their use in the development, implementation and evolution of PCMH programs, according to the four PCP groups.
Click here to see the complete guidelines.