Medical Home
The medical home (also known as patient or family-centered medical home) is an approach to providing comprehensive primary care that facilitates partnerships between patients, clinicians, medical staff, and families. It is a medical practice organized to produce higher-quality care and improved cost efficiency.
In a medical home:
- Patients have a relationship with a personal physician.
- A practice-based care team takes collective responsibility for the patient's ongoing care.
- The care team is responsible for providing and arranging all the patient's health care needs.
- Patients can expect care that is coordinated across care settings and disciplines.
- Quality is measured and improved as part of daily workflow.
- Patients experience enhanced access and communication.
- Practices move towards use of electronic health records (EHRs), registries, and other clinical support systems.
The medical home provides a large majority of the care within the practice, referring as appropriate, and working with other providers on the health care team both within and outside the practice. There is extensive evidence documenting improvements in quality and efficiency when patients have a usual source of care through a primary care practice. The medical home design builds on that relationship.
Source: What is the medical home? AAP.org Web site. https://www.aap.org/en-us/professional-resources/practice-transformation/medicalhome/Pages/home.aspx. Accessed August 31, 2019