Patient Centered Medical Home

Acronym: PCMH

The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), is a team-based health care delivery model led by a health care provider to provide comprehensive and continuous medical care to patients with a goal to obtain maximal health outcomes. It is described in the "Joint Principles" (see below) as "an approach to providing comprehensive primary care for children, youth and adults." The provision of medical homes is intended to allow better access to health care, increase satisfaction with care, and improve health. The medical home concept emerged in the late 1960s, defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Standards of Child Health Care as “one central source of a child’s pediatric records to resolve duplication and gaps in services that occur as a result of lack of communication and coordination.” By 2002, the AAP had further developed the medical home definition, to refer to medical care that is “accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective.” The medical home concept continued to evolve in the last decade, when the AAP and other physician groups further defined the patient-centered medical home. According to the Joint Principles established by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Osteopathic Association, PCMHs should have the following characteristics: a personal physician, physician-directed medical practice, whole person orientation, coordinated care, quality and safety, enhanced access, and adequate payment. Some states require that providers participating in PCMH initiatives be certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance certifying body. 42 C.F.R. Part 438. CMS regulations on Medicaid managed care. CMS State Medicaid Director Letter regarding primary care case management services and section 1905(t) of the Social Security Act. January 1998. [http://downloads.cms.gov/cmsgov/archived-downloads/SMDL/downloads/SMD012198.pdf](http://downloads.cms.gov/cmsgov/archived-downloads/SMDL/downloads/SMD012198.pdf)