The Patient-Centered Medical Home’s Impact on Cost and Quality

For nearly a decade, the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC) has advocated a vision of an effective and effi cient U.S. health system built on a strong foundation of primary care and the patientcentered medical home (PCMH) (or “medical home,” used interchangeably throughout this report). The PCPCC’s mission is to serve as the unifying voice of advanced primary care to improve delivery and payment systems. We do this by convening diverse stakeholders — including patients, providers, payers, and many other interested partners; communicating timely and accurate information to key infl uencers and the public; and advocating and educating about priority issues that show promise in improving health care delivery for all stakeholders.

 

The PCMH is an innovation in care delivery designed to advance and achieve the Triple Aim of improved patient experience, improved population health, and reduced cost of care.1 Simply put, a medical home provides enhanced primary care services of value to patients, their families, and the care teams who work with them. The evolving model promises improved access to high-quality, patient-centered primary care through trusted relationships with patients, families, and caregivers; incorporates team-based care with clinicians and staff working at the top of their skill set; and provides cost-effective care coordination and population health management connecting patients to the “medical neighborhood” and to their community.

 

By investing in enhanced primary care and ensuring that PCMHs are foundational to Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) and/or other integrated health systems, the PCMH model is demonstrating that a cost-effective, accessible, more equitable, higher-quality health care system is possible.