The PCMH Model Of The Health Care System

As our health care system continues to evolve and become more focused on a preventive and coordinated approach to patient care, we too must progress and create programs that follow such principles. The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model follows similar ideologies and recently has gained increasing support. The patient’s primary care physician, who will provide preventive and continuing care for the patient, directs this medical model. The PCMH model of care is comprised of a health care team working together to serve their patient and provide quality care.1 The model works to empower the patient by promoting communication with not only the physician but with the nursing staff, specialists, and other health care providers. Every patient

The PCMH model promotes doctor-patient interaction and the personalized management of each patient by their primary care provider. The reimbursement system in particular sets this model apart from others. Physicians are reimbursed for the time spent with the patient in the clinic as well as for coordinating the patients’ health care team and communicating with the patient out of clinic. This means that, “doctors can be paid to send their patients a letter, or a link to a computer web site or a text message”.1 This will not only generate stronger patient-doctor bonds but also enable the patients to be more active in their health care plan. The model offers patients easier access to their health care team by providing more opportunities of communication outside the clinic in which they can receive medical counsel in a timely manner. This is made possible by the reimbursement system and its ability to compensate for out of clinic communications. The PCMH model therefore provides a preventive stance on medicine and ensures that the patient receives quality care on a regular

Some critics have stated that there is not yet any quantifiable improvement in patient outcomes in comparison to the traditional model. Additionally some critics have voiced that some “practices may receive recognition without making fundamental change”.4 Another prominent flaw is the lack of funding to convert practices into PCMH. The cost to cut down patient flow, reconfiguring medical record systems, and get approval from insurers is more than many sites can handle financially. For the PCMH model to be accessible to some practices with the hopes of implementing such a program, capital funding would need to be made available from federal, state, and local entities. This limits many providers because many practices are not able to provide the necessary capital to start such a program. In addition to medical practices not having the necessary capital, providers must then work with a decreased patient load with the anticipation of possible reimbursement in the future.3 These points make it clear that the transition to a PCMH model would require hard work and commitment from the involved providers to make it