Agencies to work on health IT safety plan

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will work with the FDA, AHRQ and National Institute for Standards and Technology to create an action and surveillance plan to ensure patient safety using health IT, Government Health IT reports. National HIT Coordinator Farzad Mostashari says the plan will be completed sooner than the 12 months recommended in a recent Institute of Medicine report. The IOM, among others, has called for freer flow of safety-related information and action by all stakeholders. (Government Health IT)

PCMH study draws criticism from primary care leaders

Some primary care leaders are criticizing a recent Annals of Family Medicine study which concluded expectations that PCMH transformation would bring about large and rapid practice change were unrealistic, AAFP News Now reports. AAFP Board Chair Roland Goertz, MD, cited numerous PCMH success stories in a recent evidence review released by the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative. PCPCC President and IBM Global Director of Healthcare Transformation Paul Grundy, MD, warned the paper may do more harm than good toward moving away from "episodic, uncoordinated, inaccessible and dis-integrated care." (AAFP News Now; PCPCC review of evidence)

Providers & Suppliers

ONC keynote: Providers need to keep up with consumer tech demands 

Utah proposes community service-based health coverage

The Utah Department of Health has proposed a pilot program that would allow eligible low-income residents to perform eight hours of community service each month in exchange for Primary Care Network benefits, The Deseret News reports. The PCN program is based on income, and assets are not included as they are when applying for Medicaid. PCN is intended to accommodate more single people who don't have other health insurance options through their employment or otherwise. The proposal needs CMS approval. (Deseret News) 

PCMH offers useful framework for managing psychiatric illness

The PCMH model offers a useful conceptual framework for management of complex and chronic psychiatric illness, according to a review published in Current Opinion in Psychiatry and reported in Medscape News Today. The review highlights the development of the model and how it has been adopted in psychiatric delivery systems. Early pilots have demonstrated people with psychiatric illness who receive their care in a PCMH have better access to care, improved response to treatment and higher cost efficiency compared with usual care. (Medscape News Today; Current Opinion in Psychiatry abstract)

Disease-specific medical homes a trend  

Disease-specific "mini" medical homes for high-risk, high-cost patients with chronic diseases are an emerging trend, especially in the Medicaid population, reports Healthcare Intelligence Network, citing its annual industry forecast. For example, HealthCare Partners Medical Group of California uses a predictive modeling tool, among others, to risk-stratify patients before placing them in the medical home that best suits their needs. This approach generally focuses on ischemic heart disease, diabetes, COPD, asthma and heart failure.  (Healthcare Intelligence Network blog)

The Expanding PCMH: News and Updates

Clinicas del Camino Real in Ventura County, Calif., is one of the first eight outpatient systems in the nation to be accredited by The Joint Commission as a primary care medical home. Clinicas is a 40-year-old system that operates 12 health centers throughout the county aimed at medically underserved communities. (Ventura County Star) 

North Carolina's Cornerstone Health Care's six pediatric practices have received NCQA recognition as Patient-Centered Medical Homes. The practices are Advance Pediatrics; Cornerstone Pediatrics at Kernersville; Cornerstone Pediatrics at Premier; Cornerstone Pediatrics at Westchester in High Point, Ford, Simpson and Lively; Rice Pediatrics in Winston-Salem; and Lucas Pediatrics of Cornerstone Health Care-Greensboro. (Winston-Salem Journal)