A Research Agenda for the Patient Centered Medical Home

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DESCRIPTION (PROVIDED BY APPLICANT): Many policy makers recognize an impending crisis in primary care. The combination of ever increasing demands on primary care physicians and low reimbursement have rendered this a relatively unattractive career within the medical profession. Yet, research suggests that systems of care built upon a foundation of primary care have both higher quality and lower costs. The concept of the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is emerging as a new model of primary care that could alleviate these problems while promoting a model of care delivery that is population based and patient and family-centered, and that moves beyond the constraints of the current visit-based reimbursement system. The Joint Principles of PCMH have gained support from numerous professional medical organizations including the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM), Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) and Academic Pediatrics Association (APA). In order to broadly implement this model of care, policy makers need evidence that the improved quality and cost savings from care coordination, enhanced access to preventive health care, and improved management of chronic disease will offset any increased expenditures required by this new model of care. This creates a need for a health services research agenda that will help move the PCMH from a demonstration model to an evidenced-based standard of care. We therefore propose to organize an invitational conference to develop a policy-relevant research agenda around the PCMH to take place in 2009. The conference will convene national researchers, major primary care professional organizations, health care purchasers, payers, patient advocates, and policy makers. We seek funding to accomplish the following conference objectives: 1. To Inform and advance the state of the art and science and real world experience about the PCMH; 2. To develop partnerships and build capacity to implement a practical evaluation model that can be used by health plans, government payers, and policy makers to assess components of the PCMH and alternative models; 3. To develop and recommend a research agenda to inform the development and broad implementation of the PCMH model; and 4. To disseminate the synthesis of the conference via the peer-reviewed literature, the web, and presentations at relevant national health policy and professional association meetings.