Public officials are increasingly looking to patient centered medical homes as a means to improve efficiency and reduce costs. This model of care presents a major opportunity for healthcare providers to start using electronic health records in compliance with the government’s meaningful use rules.
Patient centered medical homes focus on using technology to share information between a variety of primary care physicians, specialists and pharmacies. The National Committee for Quality Assurance, which accredits practices as patient centered medical homes, recently updated its standards for certification, and the new guidelines emphasize meaningful use.
Officials said that helping practices comply with the meaningful use rules, which providers must follow in order to participate in the government’s electronic health records incentive program, was one of the main aims of updating their standards. They said that the rules help providers achieve many of the goals at the heart of patient centered medical homes.
“NCQA’s new medical home standards will enhance care coordination, clinician and staff satisfaction and primary care quality nationwide, while putting patients in the driver’s seat to manage their health,” said Susan Edgman-Levitan, one of the members of the committee that set the new standards.