What's New | January 30, 2013

Medical Home Models for Specialty Care

Use of the patient-centered medical home model in primary care settings can improve quality, reduce costs, and increase accessibility of health care. Providers are now applying principles of the medical home to the delivery of specialty care in an effort to provide comprehensive, coordinated care and improve health outcomes.

The featured Innovations examine how three different providers adapted the primary care medical home model to specialty care, including a community-based oncology practice that redesigned its care delivery processes, a pediatric center serving children with special health care needs, and a statewide medical home program that improved access to comprehensive pregnancy care for Medicaid beneficiaries.

The featured QualityTools provide resources to support the integration of the patient-centered medical home model into specialty care.

Featured Innovations:

• Community-Based Oncology Practice Redesigns Processes Based on Patient-Centered Medical Home Model To Enhance Access, Improve Quality, and Reduce Costs

• Pediatric Center Offers Coordinated, Culturally Appropriate Services, Increasing Access to Comprehensive Care for Low-Income Children With Special Health Care Needs

• Statewide Medical Home Program for Low-Income Pregnant Women Enhances Access to Comprehensive Prenatal Care and Case Management, Improves Outcomes

Featured QualityTools:

• Systems of Care/Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative: Primary Care–Specialty Care Compact
Developed by Colorado Medical Society; Systems of Care/Patient-Centered Medical Home Initiative

• The Patient-Centered Medical Home and Specialty Physicians
Developed by American College of Physicians

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Also in This Issue:

Innovations >

• Managed Care Organization and Visiting Nurse Association Offer Standardized Education to Elderly Heart Failure Patients, Improving Self-Management and Reducing Readmissions

• Home Health Nurses and Care Managers Use Software-Aided Medication Review Protocol for Frail, Community-Dwelling Seniors, Leading to More Appropriate Medication Use

• Palliative Care Nurses in Primary Care Clinics Reduce Hospital Admissions, Increase Use of Hospice and Home Care for Patients Nearing End of Life

• Practice-Based Teams of Clinicians and Development Experts Enhance Access to Care and Improve Parenting Skills and Knowledge Among Children and Their Families

QualityTools >

• Heart Failure Self-Management—Caring for Your Heart: Living Well With Heart Failure
Developed by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; San Francisco General Hospital; University of North Carolina

• Patient-Centered Medical Home
Developed by American Academy of Family Physicians