Medical homes stress continuity of care, ease of access, prevention, patient and caregiver engagement, and the use of electronic health record (EHR) software. Medical homes consist of multidisciplinary care teams, usually headed by a physician.
In other words, what the US considers a new innovation, the ‘Medical Home’, is standard general practice in Australia.
A recent study reports shows that North Carolina saved almost $1 billion in Medicaid costs over 4 years by enrolling patients in medical homes designed for more intense primary care.
The evidence is very very strong and getting stronger that investment in better systems for the delivery of primary care are the key to better health outcomes for our communities.
Reported in Medscape Medical News Jan 26th 2012. Hat tip to Raloh Audehm.
1 Comment
Much of this evidence for the effectivieness and efficiency fo the PCMH from the US can not be applied easily to Australia as the starting point is so much better in Australia. I think they (US advocates for the PCMH) would think they were in heavn if they got access to uncapped funding for care planning , team coordination, case conferencing, chrinic care planning reviews etc as we have in Australia.