Growing numbers of primary care practices in the US have started realizing the importance of the Patient Justifyed Medical Homes (PCMH) model. It is helping them to mete out the right amount of care to the right patient at the right time, efficiently. Through this healthcare setting, primary care physicians have been able to codify and implement care coordination tactics, population health management programs and various other data-driven, accessible principles of care.
What is Patient Centered Medical Home Model?
PCMH, a physician-led primary care practice is transforming the way primary care is organized and delivered in the US. This healthcare setting is not just a place for care provision but also an effective model that delivers core functions of primary health care. Through this setting, it has become easy to deliver accessible services with shorter waiting time.
How is PCMH Helping the Healthcare?
The PCMH has been helping coordinate care across hospitals, specialty care, community services and home health care. It has also helped build communication between patients, medical homes and members of the broader care team.
Benefits of the PCMH Approach
- By organizing and delivering primary care services through PCMH approach, it becomes easy to improve the experience of care for patients, reduce per capita healthcare costs and enhance the population health. In this setting, care delivery methods and new technologies are adopted to achieve these goals.
- By establishing relationships with patients and their families, primary care is kept patient-centred, accessible, coordinated and comprehensive. Implementation of this healthcare model helps in reducing inpatient visits which eventually reduces the overall costs. It also brings down the usage of emergency department and hospital readmissions.
Features of Patient-Centered Medical Homes
1. In order to ensure that the Patient Health Information (PHI) is accessible and usable across all the stages of healthcare, PCMH model employs care co-ordination strategies by combining EHR interoperability, electronic health information exchange (HIE) and analytics of population health management.
2. A patient-centered approach is used for delivering care. Physicians take cultural values and socio-economic preferences of patients into consideration when developing a meaningful relation with them and their family.
3. Patients are offered comprehensive care through a coordinated care team that also focuses on the patients’ mental and physical health. This healthcare setting ensures that care is easily accessible to the patients.
4. PCMH offers extended hours, enhanced scheduling process, use of the latest technology including mHealth, telehealth, home monitoring and provision of alternative sites for care during an emergency.
The focus of patient-centered medical homes is on quality of care and safety of patient. Since the clinical decision support tools are used along with the best practices and evidence-based medicines, it becomes easy to offer a safe and satisfactory experience to each patient.
Medical Billing for PCMH
Practices that decide to embrace the PCMH model will need to train their billing staff to handle the changes. Since provision of medical home care requires time and dedication, many such practices are outsourcing their billing needs to companies like MedicalBillersandCoders.com for maximum revenue and minimum claim denial rate. MBC has a team of skilled billers and coders who are well-trained in handling billing complexities for various medical specialties.
