Helping redefine primary care in Michigan

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – October 15, 2008) Priority Health is at the forefront of one of the hottest topics in health care: how to realign the relationship between plans, patients and providers so a primary care practice can act as a "patient-centered medical home" (PCMH).

In broadest terms, PCMH means making a primary care practice a real "home" for patients, a place where high-quality, comprehensive care is delivered efficiently and is easy to get and easy to understand. Practices are asked to meet certain standards but, if they do, they're rewarded appropriately.

Priority Health working with health-care providers
We're currently sponsoring five one-year pilot projects so five in-network primary care practices can transform the way they do business and become a PCMH. Some key PCMH initiatives include:

• Same-day appointments
• After-hours access
• E-visits
• Chronic disease management
• Highly accessible lab results
• Use of evidence-based best practices
• Use of health information technology — electronic medical records, electronic prescribing, practice websites and patient portals

"We want to help these offices build the infrastructure that makes it easier to do their work and report the results," says Bob VanEck, Priority Health's associate vice president for clinical quality improvement.

Focused on patients' needs
The overall idea is to ensure that practices place patients' needs first, which is critical if primary care is to survive, according to Dr. Terry McGeeney, president/CEO of TransforMED^SM, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

"Internal medicine is in a crisis state," says Dr. McGeeney. "Patient-centered medical home is about redefining and redesigning the U.S. health care system so it focuses on the patient and delivers the right care at the right time."

The reasons for the crisis are simple: There is a need for significance health care improvements for Americans and for increased satisfaction for family practices. One long-term goal of the PCMH effort is to make primary care more attractive to medical school graduates.