Medical neighborhood adds specialty care

The nationwide Patient-Centered Medical Neighborhood (PCMN) pilot project will incorporate outside specialists and hospitals into the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) concept. A total of 90 primary care practices and 15 health systems will participate in the project, according to TransforMED, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP).  

Leaders of TransforMED, a PCMH consulting and implementation organization, believe the project could lead to a more efficient, coordinated healthcare delivery network that improves care at a lower cost. According to the organization, the first step will be to create the infrastructure and technology needed to allow for data sharing in the first six months, with the goal of seeing clinical results in the following six months.

In attempts to understand current process and identify areas of improvement, TransforMED will meet with practice leaders to assess four areas: costs, health, patient experience, and scalability.

This three-year project, funded by a $20.75 million award by the CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, will involve 15 health systems in 65 cities across the country. It was one of 107 Innovation Challenge grants awarded from more than 3,000 proposals evaluated.

TransforMED plans to attain the following goals by 2015:

• Reduce overall costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries by 4% ($49.5 million).

• Improve the health of the eligible population by an average of 15% - and at least 3% improvement – in each selected quality measure.

• A 25% improvement in patient experience measures that reflect patient engagement, access, and quality.

• Demonstrate the ability to scale to additional practices within each community.