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By 1st Lt. Theresa Paxton: 27th Special Operations Medical Group
The 27th Special Operations Medical Group Family Health Clinic (formerly known as Family Practice) and Pediatric Clinic have started the implementation of Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This transition is scheduled to be completed Feb. 1, 2012.
Continuity is the key to this initiative, where we strive to meet all patient medical needs through respective PCMH teams or “medical homes.” Through the implementation of PCMH, our focus is to improve the care that we deliver through consistent appointments with the same healthcare team — technician, nurse, and provider.
Although it is unlikely every appointment will be with the same provider due to urgent care needs and provider availability, every effort will be made to ensure care is granted by the same healthcare team every time patients visit the clinic. Improved continuity means better medical management. Our goal is to create an enjoyable and productive environment that promotes and delivers world class healthcare to our community.
PCMH is designed to also permit greater flexibility in scheduling patient appointments, while allowing our family-focused providers to get to know their patients. This model takes an active approach to establish a “medical home” for everyone.
The patient-centered “medical home” focuses on the patient being at the center of healthcare, and an active participant rather than a passive recipient. Care is coordinated by individual medical providers who lead teams of medical professionals providing continuous, comprehensive, and personalized prevention-based healthcare. Such care, which is truly patient-centered, considers a patient’s cultural traditions, personal preferences and values, family situations, and lifestyles. It makes the patient and their loved ones an integral part of the care team by allowing them to collaborate with healthcare professionals in making clinical decisions.
Patient-centered care puts responsibility for important aspects of self-care and monitoring in the patient’s hands along with the tools and support they need to carry out that responsibility.
Why is this important to you? Greater flexibility for scheduling appointments with your team providers can facilitate a relationship consistent with the best of medical practices. Your provider will have a portion of duty week set aside in order to manage more complex medical issues. This time will be managed by the medical staff, providing the opportunity to schedule longer appointments for more complex conditions.
Your healthcare team will work hand in hand with disease management staff, whose primary focus is on the management of more chronic illnesses, such as diabetes. As a result, the team will work with the disease management group to focus even more on your wellness and preventive medicine. This team approach will allow us to enhance monitoring and management of chronic diseases.
