The recurring theme in today’s headlines is how federal agencies blow smoke with the usual buzzwords.
The Duke Endowment gave the Mission Healthcare Foundation $2.6 million. The funds will assist fifteen to twenty private practices in transitioning to Patient Centered Medical Homes. As you might have guessed, that is a special designation awarded by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Righto.
Mission Hospitals will administrate the associated program, but it has not yet selected the lucky practices.
“The ultimate goal is not just to introduce an electronic registry or to add features to practices,” said project director Dr. Alan Baumgarten, a family physician in Asheville. “It’s a new approach and a real challenge, but one that will hopefully mean better and more efficient care for patients and lowered costs for everyone.”
If that only paints a smoggy picture in your mind, the following clarification is provided:
The goal of the Patient Centered Medical Home is to improve quality and efficiency of care, reduce costs and to increase practice capacity. Among the criteria for recognition are implementing an electronic record system, improving “patient engagement” and expanded patient access to primary care.
The object is not to derive a physical interpretation of what the money is supposed to do, or what the designation will change. Just indulge the credentialing wizards and ooh and ah as if you feel the energy of a new day.
