CONTACT: Jennifer Forbes
Communications & Public Affairs
732-235-6356, jenn.forbes@rwjms.rutgers.edu
Successful Patient Centered Medical Home Practices Offer Guidance and Strategic Support for Primary Care Physicians
New Brunswick, NJ -- Working toward a patient-centered medical home takes time, patience and willingness to change on the part of physicians and their staffs. Primary care practices across the country are working toward this new model of care to meet the requirements of healthcare reform, but making the change successfully presents strategic and financial challenges. At a working conference funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and hosted by the Division of Research of the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 10 practices from across the nation shared their implementation strategies as innovators and early adopters of this new model of care.
“The transformation of primary care practices will improve the quality of care for patients,” said Benjamin Crabtree, PhD, professor and chief of the division at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. “Our goal was to facilitate the change necessary to accommodate requirements of healthcare reform and prepare health professionals for the challenges that occur as they transform a practice to a patient-centered medical home model.”
The three-day conference held in Denver, Colo., engaged practice professionals, researchers, policy makers and patients, to share best practice strategies toward implementing the patient-centered medical home model of care, in which patients are involved with managing their health along with an interdisciplinary team of healthcare providers. In a practice, care teams may include physicians, nurses, medical assistants, mental health professionals and other trained staff members who share responsibility for patients’ health. In both large group and small group sessions, the 10 model practices shared their experiences with team coordination and utilizing teams to effectively provide quality patient care, the identification and management of populations of patients, and sustaining the motivation to continue practice transformation in the face of challenges.
These active-learner sessions also examined financial considerations, including the need for patient-centered medical homes to move from a paper and file system to electronic medical records. These 10 innovative model practices discussed their strategies for upgrading infrastructure and acquiring training to accommodate the move to a digital record keeping system.
The conference emerged from a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded project in which Dr. Crabtree and his team did an extensive search to identify practices from throughout the United States that have successfully transformed from a traditional practice approach to a patient-centered medical home. Dr. Crabtree, along with seven colleagues at academic institutions throughout the country, had published an eight-part supplement to the Annals of Family Medicine in June 2010 that described the challenges and recommendations for implementing a patient-centered medical home.
Dr. Crabtree, along with the conference partners, is compiling the knowledge gained through the conference for submission to peer-reviewed publication in order to benefit more practices that are looking to transform their model of care.
“It is our responsibility to share what we learned through this conference to help practices move forward successfully,” said Dr. Crabtree.
Funding for this conference was made possible [in part] by grant 1R13 HS021287-01A from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
About UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
As one of the nation's leading comprehensive medical schools, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school's principal affiliate, comprise one of the nation's premier academic medical centers. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.
As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, with 2,800 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs. To learn more about Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, visit rwjms.umdnj.edu. Find us online at www.Facebook.com/RWJMS and www.twitter.com/RWJMS.
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