Medical Home Digest: News from the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative
<p>The Commonwealth Fund recently launched a five-year national initiative to help primary care safety-net clinics become high-performing patient-centered medical homes. The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, which is cofunded by eight local foundations and led by Qualis Health and the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation, aims to develop a replicable and sustainable implementation model for medical home transformation. <br /><br />A new newsletter, <a href="http://www.qhmedicalhome.org/safety-net/index.cfm">The Medical Home Digest</a>, reports on the activities of this five-state, 68-clinic demonstration project. The inaugural issue features reports from the field, including an essay on engaged leadership by Ed Wagner, M.D., M.P.H., director of the MacColl Institute, and an interview with Alicia Eng, practice team manager for the Factoria Clinic, the site of Group Health Cooperative's first medical home demonstration. <br /><br />Factoria's experience offers important lessons for safety-net clinics. As part of their transformation process, Factoria focused on reducing the number of patients per physician to lengthen visit times; building in time for physicians to respond to patient calls and e-mails; developing new protocols to improve visit preparation and chronic disease management; and improving outreach to hospital patients to link them back to their primary care home quickly. <br /><br />To download the issue and learn more about the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative, go to: <a href="http://www.qhmedicalhome.or/safety-net">www.qhmedicalhome.or/safety-net…;. </p>
<p>The cofunding foundations for this initiative are: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation; Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation for Health; The Boston Foundation; Colorado Health Foundation; Jewish Healthcare Foundation in Pittsburgh; Northwest Health Foundation in Portland, Oregon; and Partners HealthCare in Boston. <br /></p>