TAMC earns national recognition
PRESQUE ISLE — The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recently announced that The Aroostook Medical Center received the highest level of recognition from the Physician Practice Connections — Patient-Centered Medical Home (PPC-PCMH) program for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and participative relationships.
The patient- centered medical home (PCMH) is a model of health care designed to improve the quality and efficiency of care. Care managers work collaboratively with health care providers in identifying and managing patients with certain high-risk, chronic conditions.
“Patients who participate in the medical home model are supplied with resources and tools to help manage their health in partnership with their care manager,” said Sylvia Getman, TAMC president and CEO.
The care manager is the link between the patient and their health care team — answering questions, gathering resources, and assisting the patient with their health care plan. Each patient’s care is tended to by care teams, who provide for all the patient’s health care needs and coordinate treatments across the health care system.
TAMC has begun to see results from the medical home model. For example, a patient recently contacted her primary care provider due to a flare-up of chronic asthma. A visit to her primary care provider resulted in a medications adjustment and a referral to her specialist. The patient received daily phone calls from a care manager for the next few days to ensure treatment was working. This coordination of care prevented an unnecessary visit to the emergency room.
“The philosophy of the medical home model is to improve the quality of care and lower costs by increasing access to more efficient, more coordinated care, resulting in savings for patients,” said Getman.
“The patient-centered medical home promises to improve health and health care. The active, ongoing relationship between a patient and their health care team in medical homes fosters an all-too-rare goal in care: staying healthy and preventing illness in the first place. This recognition shows that The Aroostook Medical Center has tools, systems and resources to provide its patients with the right care at the right time,” continued Getman.
To receive this three-year recognition, TAMC demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements embodying characteristics of the medical home. The standards are aligned with the joint principles of the patient-centered medical home established with the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Osteopathic Association.
For more information about quality at TAMC, visit www.tamc.org.
