Thinking Beyond Recognition

By Lauren Simpson

In a meeting yesterday, we discussed the difference between simply being recognized as a Patient-Centered Medical Home and actually operating as a PCMH. I think most people recognize that there’s difference, but it’s not always easy to pinpoint measures of success beyond the recognition process.

I like to think of the recognition process as an enabler. In the same way that having butter, sugar, and flour enable you bake cookies, going through everything required for PCMH recognition enables you to operate in a patient-centric way. Having the ingredients for cookies is not necessarily appealing on its own -  you have to bake them. Similarly, having completed the checklist required for recognition is not enough. You have to use those policies and procedures, change the way EHR data is used to drive meaningful change, increase the number of potential touch points with patients, etc.

The recommendation that came out of the meeting yesterday is to carefully assess what you’re doing post-recognition and compare it to an “ideal” future state. You may have a policy for patient access outside of office hours, but do you stick to it? Are patients satisfied? Is your practice running continuous quality improvement cycles based on validated data from the EHR? Are there benchmarks that you’re striving for in terms of improved outcomes? If, after this assessment, there are significant gaps, then identify the ways to bridge those gaps quickly.

We’re seeing PCMH quickly gain traction with funding organizations, payers, policymakers, etc. and there are demonstration programs, statewide Medicaid Health Home programs, and other pilots popping up around the country. This only serves to underscore the importance of thinking beyondrecognition. In order to demonstrate real results, we need to not only have the ingredients but also go ahead and bake the cookies.