Medical Home

The Latest Information -Posted August 2010

MEDICAL HOME NEWS

AHQR LAUNCHES WEBSITE PROVIDING MEDICAL HOME RESOURCES
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently launched a new website devoted to providing objective information to policymakers and researchers on the medical home, www.pcmh.ahrq.gov. The site will provide a searchable database of publications and other resources on the medical home and exclusive access to AHRQ-funded white papers. 

HCH Certification Materials Available
Health care providers may now begin applying to become certified as a health care home.  Please click on the link above for more information and to apply.

HCH Resources and Education
A listing of Health Care Home resources was developed by MAFP staff under a subcontract with the Minnesota Academy of Pediatrics Foundation through a contract with the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).  Click on the link above to view resources.

Health Care Home Educational Events
Click on the link above for information about Health Care Home educational events and to access archived material from from those events.

MAFP Talking Points About Health Care Home Payment Methodology

Health Care Home Payment Methodology Recommendations (PDF)
The MAFP recently provided comments on Health Care Home payment methodology recommendations released by the Department of Human Services.  To review the preliminary recommendations, go to http://www.health.state.mn.us/healthreform/homes/payment/comment.html.  A final product is due by the end of the year.

Health Care Home Capacity Assessment Report Available
The Health Care Home Capacity Assessment report was released last month by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).  The report summarizes survey responses from 373 of Minnesota’s primary care clinics about their level of readiness to implement the medical home/health care home model. The MAFP Foundation lead the project’s consumer assessment with nearly 600 consumers participating in the on-line survey and focus groups to determine what consumers know and understand about the health care home, and to assess if they are ready to use the model. The capacity assessment project was done under a contract from the MDH by the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics Foundation in partnership with the Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP), the MAFP Foundation, the American College of Physicians-Minnesota Chapter, and Stratis Health.

Minnesota Health Care Reform Updates Available by Email - Visit here to subscribe to receive e-mail announcements about Health Care Homes and other Health Reform activities undertaken by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Human Services.

MH-IQ

Find out where you stand on the journey to becoming a Medical Home by measuring your practice against the TransforMED Medical Home IQ Assessment's modules. The TransforMED MHIQ makes it easy to benchmark your practice's current performance.  Answer a dozen or so short questions and get your current score each of the eight areas, along with recommendations based on that score.

You can find this assessment tool by visiting here.  (You will need to sign in and get a password.)

The MAFP encourages you to do the MH-IQ activity with a small group at your clinic.
 

HEALTH CARE HOME DOCUMENTS ON MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH WEBSITE

ICSI: Recommendations on Outcomes to Consider for Health Care Homes (PDF: 1.1 MB/180 pages) 

ICSI: Report on the Current "State-of-the-art" Health Care Home (PDF: 790 KB/69 pages)


PATIENT RESOURCES

Description for Patients: What is a Medical Home?

Printable Medical Home Brochure (PDF)

Printable Medical Home Poster (PDF)
 

HEALTH CARE REFORM LEGISLATION

Minnesota Department of Health Reform website - On this website you will find updated information about health reform including news and announcements, fact sheets, working group updates and a calendar of upcoming events and meetings. Please note that you can subscribe to get email updates of announcements and events.

Minnesota Health Care Reform Updates Available by Email - Visit here to subscribe to receive e-mail announcements about Health Care Homes and other Health Reform activities undertaken by the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Link to Actual Legislation - Article 2 discusses Health Care Homes


MAFP-GENERATED RESOURCES

Talking Points: Transforming Healthcare in Minnesota through Patient-Centered Medical Homes (Word Document)

Patient-Centered Medical Home: Myths and Misperceptions (Word Document)

Presentation:  Wondering How to Implement Medical Home Concepts in Your Practice? (PDF)

Minnesota Family Physician Articles - The MAFP has been publishing articles in the Minnesota Family Physician on concepts of the Medical Home.  The series of articles was launched in the July/August 2007 issue.

Medical Home Position Statement (PDF) - The MAFP launched an initiative to define the Medical Home (as the next step towards educating our members, the legislature, governmental entities, health care delivery systems and the public.  The MAFP Board of Directors approved a Position Statement on the Concept of the Medical Home in March 2006.  During the development of that statement, we researched other organizations' work on the Medical Home, including the Amercian Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians.

View MAFP Medical Home Commercial

The MAFP produced a cable commercial introducing the Medical Home concept to Minnesotans.  It ran on several cable stations during the summers of 2006 and 2007.
 

New Model of Family Medicine DVD  - The MAFP created a DVD highlighting local clinics that have had success with the New Model of Family Medicine concepts.
 

NATIONAL AND OTHER MEDICAL HOME RESOURCES

In February of 2007, the AAFP, AOA, ACP, and AAP released the Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PDF) as a method of providing comprehensive primary care in a health care setting that promotes collaboration between patients and physicians.

TransforMED  - TransforMED, a corporation wholly owned by AAFP, is a practice redesign initiative focused on studying and implementing transformed models of high performance practices that meet the needs of both patients and practices.  In June 2006, TransforMED launched a 24-month National Demonstration Project, serving as a "Learning Lab" to generate new knowledge about the process of practice transformation and to systematically evaluate and compare the effect of two practice transformation approaches on practice and patient outcomes. A report will be published in early 2009.

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) - NCQA's Physician Practice Connections (PPC) program is designed to assess how medical practices are functioning as patient-centered medical homes.  The PPC-PCHH standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care management processes.

The AAFP’s Center for Health Information Technology (ChiT), has modules of free CME activities created to help FPs learn how to research, select and implement electronic health records (EHRs) in their practices.  The latest addition to the series of online tutorials is “Health Information Technology for the Family Physician Office: Implementing Your Electronic Health Record.”  The module is designed to help users identify and accomplish pre-implementation tasks and then to help them formulate a strategy for implementing their EHR system.

AAFP - Patient-Centered Medical Home - A link to information about the Patient-Centered Medical Home on the AAFP website.

Rural Medical Homes - The Rural Assistance Center provides information about Medical Homes.

Minnesota Children with Special Health Needs (MCSHN) – Minnesota Medical Home Project  - A link to the Minnesota Department of Health website.
 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON MEDICAL HOMES

www.medicalhomeinfo.org

www.medicalhomeimprovement.org
 

DATA SUPPORTS VALUE OF FAMILY MEDICINE

Through the MAFP Research Committee, a summary (word document) of each resource and reference is provided for over ten sources that support topics on the cost effectiveness and quality care for primary care, patient involvement in care decisions and healthcare quality outcomes in the US.

AAFP has an online resource, Value of Family Medicine, that provides links to abstracts and/or articles commonly requested by family physicians.  This handy resource can help prepare you to speak at your Chamber of Commerce, Rotary or other service organizations.  These articles can provide material when speaking at grand rounds to medical student lunches to patient care.