Amidst the debate about health care reform, there appears to be near unanimity around the fact that a reformed US health care system requires at its foundation a robust system of primary care. The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) has emerged as the leading strategy around which primary care will be redesigned.1 The core principles of the PCMH model build upon the core concepts of primary care as defined by Starfield2 and the Institute of Medicine3, and include a whole person orientation with care that is accessible, coordinated, comprehensive, and continuous over time. There are a variety of challenges to implementing the PCMH model; the core principles serve as a general guide, but do not necessarily specify the required capabilities of PCMH practices, the optimal reimbursement strategy, or the ideal methods for facilitating the transformation of current practices to meet the ideals of the PCMH model of care. Thus, although the implementation of the PCMH should be grounded in an evidence base supported by scientific research, new research must accompany policy development so as to inform the optimal implementation of the PCMH and track the effects of the PCMH on care delivery.
PMC ID: PMC2869407 (June 2010)
Journal of General Internal Medicine
2010
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2869407/