Study: Quality of Care Higher in Medical Homes Compared with Other Practices
<p class="ITLBodyText" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">Physician practices that become patient-centered medical homes can expect to achieve modest improvements in health care quality compared with traditional practices, according to a new <a href="/publications/journal-article/2014/jun/patient-centered-medical-home-electronic-health-records-and">Commonwealth Fund–supported study</a> in <em>Annals of Internal Medicine.</em> The researchers, led by Lisa M. Kern, M.D., of Weill Cornell Medical College, compared medical home practices with two types of traditional practices, one using paper records and one using electronic health records (EHRs). All medical homes also have an EHR system.</p><p> </p>
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<p class="ITLBodyText" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: left;">In addition, the study found that the new roles and relationships of providers and staff working in medical homes may be at least as important as EHR usage in driving quality improvement. Defining team members' roles and responsibilities, establishing a culture of population management, and becoming accountable for performance are also critical to successful medical home transformation—though the latter two are greatly enabled by EHRs, the researchers say.</p>
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<p>Visit <a href="/publications/journal-article/2014/jun/patient-centered-medical-home-electronic-health-records-and">commonwealthfund.org</a> to read more about this important new study.</p>
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