BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: MDF) (“MetCare”), a leading provider of health care services in Florida, today announced that an additional three of its centers have been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as Physician Practice Connections® – Patient-Centered Medical Homes™ (PPC®-PCMHTM). This brings the total number of NCQA recognized MetCare centers to eleven.
“Achieving NCQA recognition is a significant benchmark for quality in a primary care organization such as ours,” commented Dr. Jose Guethon, President and Chief Operating Officer of Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. “The challenging standards and criteria for recognition are designed to enhance positive customer outcomes as well as the customer experience, all with an eye towards fostering improvements in communication and integration across the primary care delivery spectrum. To do so, an organization must be willing to commit time, dollars, and staffing resources. MetCare continues to demonstrate its commitment and capacity for continuous improvement in this regard. The correlation between our early investments in these areas and better customer outcomes and satisfaction is undeniable. With the incorporation of the PCMH model of care, MetCare is delivering true value to all parties in the primary care equation, including customers with chronic diseases such as heart failure and diabetes. I am pleased to note that our oncology practice in Daytona is the first specialty practice in Florida to achieve this recognition. They did so by incorporating our patient-centric model in their delivery of high quality cancer care to our customers. I commend them and our entire staff for their dedication and hard work in achieving NCQA recognition for these additional centers.”
NCQA standards are aligned with the joint principles of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), which define the key characteristics of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH).
The PCMH is an approach to care that seeks to strengthen the patient-physician relationship by replacing episodic care with coordinated care and a long-term healing relationship. This model places the consumer in an ongoing relationship with a personal physician who leads a team of health care professionals that take collective responsibility for patient care. The physician-led care team is responsible for providing all the patient’s health care needs and, when needed, coordinating care across the health care system.
PPC®-PCMHTM includes nine standards for medical practices to meet, including use of patient self-management support, care coordination, evidence-based guidelines for chronic conditions and performance reporting and improvement.
To be recognized as a PCMH, practices need to demonstrate the ability to sufficiently meet the criteria of these standards and specifically pass at least five of the following 10 elements:
- Written standards for patient access and patient communication
- Use of data to show standards for patient access and communication are met
- Use of paper or electronic charting tools to organize clinical information
- Use of data to identify important diagnoses and conditions in practice
- Adoption and implementation of evidence-based guidelines for three chronic conditions
- Active patient self-management support
- Systematic tracking of test results and identification of abnormal results
- Referral tracking, using a paper or electronic system
- Clinical and/or service performance measurement, by physician or across the practice
- Performance reporting, by physician or across the practice
About Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc.:
Metropolitan is a growing health care company that provides and coordinates comprehensive health care services for Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and other customers in Florida through its primary care-centric businesses, MetCare of Florida, Inc. and Continucare Corporation. Metropolitan currently owns and operates 33 medical centers and contracts with more than 250 primary care practices. To learn more about Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc., please visit its website at www.metropolitanhealthnetworks.com or www.metcare.com
About the National Committee for Quality Assurance:
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.