Six Novant Health physician practices in the Winston-Salem market have been selected to be part of a CMS funded $20.8 million patient-centered medical home neighborhood model pilot project.
The project, funded by a grant from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will focus on developing a patient-centered medical neighborhood model, where care is coordinated by a primary care physician, to incorporate outside specialists and hospitals.
The collaborative PCMN project plans to achieve the following goals by year three of the demonstration:
- Decrease overall healthcare costs by $49.5 million within the 15 communities;
- Improve the health of the eligible patient population by a 15 percent average in selected quality measures;
- Achieve a 25 percent improvement in the patient experience; and
- Extend PCMH and patient-centered medical neighborhood learning within each of the 15 communities.
The Novant practices will join 84 other practices from 14 other health systems in the pilot group. TransforMED, a nonprofit subsidiary of the Academy of Family Physicians that consults and supports practices as they move toward the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model will oversee the national project.
Related: Is The Patient Centered Medical Home The Future of Primary Care?
Background
Approximately 157,000 Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in up to 15 U.S. health systems and providers will begin participating in a patient-centered medical neighborhood (PCMN) demonstration project as part of a collaboration among TransforMED, Phytel and VHA. Funded by a three-year, $20.75 million cooperative agreement awarded by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
This award is part of the Health Care Innovation Awards program, a Department of Health and Human Services initiative investing up to $1 billion to test new approaches to improving healthcare and lowering program costs for recipients of Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
During the three-year program, TransforMED will offer expertise and resources to the participating practices as they develop the neighborhood model during the three years.
References: http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2013/07/18/with-health-care-innovation-project.html?page=all
