Impact of the patient-centred medical home on stakeholders in the care management industry

Abstract

The patient-centred medical home (PCMH) is a new care management approach that has gained substantial media and market attention in the last two years. Efforts from both the private and the public sectors have resulted in more than two dozen pilot or demonstration projects. These pilot programmes could have a profound impact on the future direction and priorities of US healthcare reform, particularly for care management. The PCMH will transform primary care into a more integrated and coordinated service addressing patients' comprehensive care needs, but its success hinges on rallying the interest of small to medium-sized physician practices and alleviating their concerns over the required changes to processes and personnel, the costs in technology adoption, and the adequacy of financial payout. These pilots are designed to address these concerns and also to help payers decide how to allocate their future care management budget and change their focus from disease-specific programmes to population-centric approaches. Finally, the PCMH will help train physicians to compete with the disease management industry and could replace the disease management model as the preferred choice of care management in the next decade.