WELCOME TO YOUR MEDICAL HOME

Principles

Personal physician - each patient has an ongoing relationship with a personal physician trained to provide first contact, continuous and comprehensive care.

Physician directed medical practice – the personal physician leads a team of individuals at the practice level who collectively take responsibility for the ongoing care of patients.

Whole person orientation – the personal physician is responsible for providing for all the patient’s health care needs or taking responsibility for appropriately arranging care with other qualified professionals. This includes care for all stagesof life; acute care; chronic care; preventive services; and end of life care.

Care is coordinated and/or integrated -across all elements of the complex health care system (e.g., subspecialty care, hospitals, home health agencies, nursinghomes) and the patient’s community (e.g., family, public and private communitybasedservices). Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange and other means to assure that patients get the indicated care when and where they need and want it in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.

Quality and safety are hallmarks of the medical home:

      Practices advocate for their patients to support the attainment of optimal, patient-centered outcomes that are defined by a care planning process driven by a compassionate, robust partnership between physicians, patients, and the patient’s family.

     Evidence-based medicine and clinical decision-support tools guide decision making. Physicians in the practice accept accountability for continuous quality improvement through voluntary engagement in performance measurement and improvement. Patients actively participate in decision-making and feedback is sought to ensure patients’ expectations are being met.

     Information technology is utilized appropriately to support optimal patient care, performance measurement, patient education, and enhanced communication. Practices go through a voluntary recognition process by an appropriate non-governmental entity to demonstrate that they have the capabilities to provide patient centered services consistent with the medical home model. Patients and families participate in quality improvement activities at the practice level.