Patient-centered medical home and quality measurement in small practices

Am J Manag Care. 2014 Jun;20(6):481-9.

Abstract

Objectives: To assess performance on quality measures among small primary care practices that recently adopted an electronic health record (EHR), and how performance differs between practices that have achieved patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition and those that have not.

Study design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Comparison of practice characteristics and performance on quality measures across 150 independent practices from 2009 to 2011 by recognition status for Physician Practice Connections-PCMH.

Results: PCMH-recognized practices performed significantly better than nonrecognized practices on 5 out of 7 clinical quality measures at baseline, and the differences were maintained over the 2-year study period. Both groups improved on all clinical quality measures. Though the magnitude of differences was small, PCMHrecognized practices had a higher number of patients diagnosed with hypertension and proportionally more black patients. A significant difference in PCMH-recognized practices is that they received, on average, 4 additional quality improvement visits compared with nonrecognized practices.

Conclusions: Among small practices that have adopted EHRs, practices with PCMH recognition consistently outperformed practices without recognition on most clinical quality measures. With adequate assistance, small, resource-strapped practices can continue to have higher performance on clinical quality measures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient-Centered Care* / organization & administration
  • Primary Health Care / organization & administration
  • Primary Health Care / standards*
  • Quality Improvement
  • Quality Indicators, Health Care
  • Quality of Health Care / organization & administration*
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Young Adult