OnSiteClinics.Org

Medical Home Models

A core principle of the on-site medical clinic (at least the successful ones) is to be a “medical home” for the employees and dependents they serve.  It is one of the biggest differentiating factors between the on-site clinic and your employee’s own private physician office.   As a result, it isn’t surprising that a study published earlier this month showed that 40% of primary care offices can’t meet patient-centered medical home criteria (using National Committee on Quality Assurance standards).   The research was sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (see a link to their site on sidebar).

The authors feel that the findings “underscore the fact that many. . . groups will require both substantial assistance and significant retooling” to become medical homes.   They look to the federal government to help practices (particularly smaller ones) in achieving medical home status.  While we sincerely hope that incentives and other programs being offered and developed by the government to promote the PCMH concept will significantly increase the number of physicians working in this model – those of you in the on-site clinic world are well ahead of the game, and not waiting for Federal intervention to adopt this model and all the benefits it provides to you and your employees.  Let’s see if physicians and the federal government can accomplish what you have already been able to do.