--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NCQA:
WHAT: NCQA will host a briefing about its 2014 NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition standards, launching March 24.
Medical homes use teamwork and technology to improve quality and patients’ experience of care, and reduce costs. NCQA’s PCMH Recognition program is the most widely adopted medical home model in the country.
Changes affecting the advantages and requirements of NCQA PCMH Recognition include:
- Alignment with Meaningful Use Stage 2 (MU2) – NCQA’s requirements continue to position clinicians to qualify for federal Meaningful Use rewards for adoption of health information technology, and raise the bar to include expectations for MU2.
- Enhanced emphasis on team-based care – Revised standards emphasize collaboration with patients as part of the care team and establish team-based care as a “must-pass” criterion for NCQA Recognition.
- Care management focus on high-need populations – Practices must address socioeconomic drivers of health and poorly controlled or complex conditions. Practices also focus on the special needs of patients referred from the “medical neighborhood” of practices that surround and inform the medical home.
- Alignment of quality improvement with the triple aim – Practices must show that they are working to improve across all three domains of the triple aim: patient experience, cost and clinical quality.
- Sustained Transformation – In keeping with the goal of continuous improvement, practices show that they comply with NCQA standards over long periods.
- Integration of behavioral health – Expectations rise, as they did in previous NCQA standards, that a practice support patients’ behavioral health. This includes disclosing to patients a practice’s behavioral health care capabilities and collaborating with behavioral health care providers.
WHEN: Monday, March 10, 9:30–10:30 a.m. ET
WHO: This briefing is open to journalists and others who are interested in health care delivery system innovations. NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane and Vice President for Product Development Patricia Barrett will summarize the PCMH 2014 standards. Guest speakers who advised NCQA on the new standards are:
- Randy Curnow, MD, Vice President Medical Affairs at Mercy Health Physicians, will discuss why primary care practices should follow PCMH 2014 standards.
- Lee Partridge, Senior Health Policy Advisor at the National Partnership for Women & Families, will discuss advantages of receiving care from a medical home, and protections for consumers.
- Kimberly Williams, LMSW, Vice President of The Center for Policy, Advocacy, and Education at the Mental Health Association of New York City, will discuss what the new PCMH standards mean for special needs populations, including for patients who need behavioral health care.
WHERE: WebEx virtual meeting
1. Connect to https://ncqaevents.webex.com/ncqaevents/onstage/g.php?d=666575658&t=a
2. Locate the event: Sneak Preview: New Patient-Centered Medical Home Standards.
3. Enter your information to register and click JOIN.
4. Enter the password: Pcmh2014.
5. Establish your phone connection by calling 866-469-3239.
6. Enter the conference code: 666 575 658
7. If you have trouble connecting, call 866-229-3239, Option 1.
RSVP: Contact either Apoorva Stull at stull@ncqa.org or 202-955-3567, or Ashley Carter at acarter@ncqa.org or 202-955-5106.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA’s Web site (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
