Medical home pilot project being launched

A planned three-year initiative aimed at developing better medical care at lower cost is being launched by a coalition of the state’s leading medical societies with underwriting from three Kansas health foundations.

Formal announcement of the Kansas Patient Centered Medical Home Initiative, or PCMH, is scheduled from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the Kansas Medical Society headquarters in Topeka.

The Kansas Health Foundation, Sunflower Foundation, and United Methodist Health Ministry Fund are awarding grants totaling $534,576 for the project.

“This project is a response to local needs for improved health care and lower costs. The benefit is win-win-win for physicians, patients and payers,” said Dr. Jen Brull of Plainville, president of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians.

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Brull said the pilot project will be launched in mid 2011.

The initiative will provide education and information about a medical home model of care that is “patient-centered.”

Eight doctor practices will be selected to participate.

Organizations involved in the Kansas Primary Care Physician Coalition and the grant are:

• Kansas Academy of Family Physicians
• Kansas Association of Osteopathic Physicians
• Kansas Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Kansas Chapter of the American College of Physicians
• Kansas Medical Society

In 2007, the Kansas Academy of Family Physcians and three other Kansas primary care medical societies began working together on the “Kansas Primary Care Physician Coalition” to bring the medical-home concept to the attention of doctors, policy makers and the public. The coalition was involved in developing the 2008 legislation that defined a medical home.

In North Carolina, a similar program demonstrated savings of more than $200 million per year, officials said. It has been estimated that if every American had access to a medical home, national health care spending would drop by more than 5.5 percent, or $67 billion per year.

“We believe the net results will be reduced costs, better healthcare outcomes and healthier patients,” said Carolyn Gaughan, executive director of the Kansas Academy of Family Physicians. “We are so grateful to the funders for their foresight and willingness to fund this important initiative.”

The goals of a patient-centered medical home are:

All people have better access to doctors, regardless of income or insurance.

Each person knows a primary care physician and has a team of medical professionals attentive to their care wherever the patient is in the health care system.

Emergency room visits complications caused by not having a doctor are decreased

Electronic medical records are used to improve quality, safety and efficiency of health care by improving communication among providers and with patients

The Kansas PCMH Initiative will be led by the KAFP with assistance from coalition members and TransforMED, an organization specializing in practice redesign, which is affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians.