The Patient-Centered Medical Home Neighbor: A Subspecialty Physician's View

Abstract

To achieve the benefits of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model, the American College of Physicians has issued a policy paper addressing the relationship between specialist and subspecialist physicians and PCMH practices. This paper represents a significant step toward improving care coordination and quality by demonstrating that this model is supported by numerous specialties and subspecialties, recognizing the importance of building a strong medical neighborhood, and providing a framework that will foster improvements in care at the interface of PCMHs and PCMH neighbors (PCMH-Ns). Construction of a well-functioning medical neighborhood will, however, require some refinements. First, the proposed interaction typology between PCMHs and PCMH-Ns must be expanded to include innovative forms of interaction that do not depend on traditional office visits, but for which there are clear incentives. Second, the recommended care coordination agreements must be better standardized for the sake of practicality. Finally, genuine dialogue between PCMH and PCMH-N practices needs to be realized.