Hospital enhances patient experience with customized care

By Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center Staff WriterMay 16, 2014

Kimbrough enhances patient experience with customized care
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. (May 15, 2014) -- Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center beneficiaries can receive customized and coordinated health care through their Primary Care Team under the Patient Centered Medical Home.

The Patient Centered Medical Home is the Army's health care model in which patient is our center, our focus, and our partner in their health care journey.

Kimbrough's PCMH has been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance as a Level 3 -- the highest level -- Patient Centered Medical Home since December 2012.

The NCQA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. Since its founding in 1990, NCQA has been a central figure in driving health improvement throughout the health care system.

As part of the recognition process, NCQA reviewed hundreds of documents submitted by the Kimbrough staff that provided fact-based evidence showing how the clinic was conducting business as truly patient-centered.

The NCQA measures the ability of medical facilities to provide quality health care through standardized, objective measurement guidelines.

NCQA requires recognized facilities to enhance access to care and patients' continuity with their provider teams; keep track of patient data to help manage patients' well-being; plan and manage care using evidence-based practices; provide self-care support and community resources; and track and coordinate tests, referrals and other care for patients.

In addition, clinics must show that they measure their performance and patients' feedback to continue improving the quality of care.

Here's what patients can expect from the Kimbrough Ambulatory Care Center Medical Home:

* A personal provider:

Each patient has an ongoing relationship with a personal physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner who is trained to provide first contact, continuous and comprehensive care.

If a patient's provider is not immediately available, they can choose to see another provider, or can wait and see their provider. This provider will lead the patient's health care team, with the patient at the center, in managing health care needs.

Other members of the patient's health care team may include nurses, administrative assistants, nutritionists, pharmacists and care managers.

* Whole-person orientation:

The personal provider and the health care team are responsible for providing all of the patient's health care needs or for helping the patient arrange care with other qualified professionals.

They will work together with the team to receive personalized health care that meets the patient's needs.

* Coordinated and integrated care:

Each patient's care is coordinated and integrated across all elements of the health care system and the patient's community. Communication is the key to this coordinated care. That is why it is so important for the patient to let the team know if they have received care outside the facility.

* Quality and safety focus:

All members of the health care team are focused on ensuring the highest quality care in the medical home.

* Improved access:

In the PCMH, enhanced access to care options are available through open scheduling, same-day appointments, secure electronic messaging, telephone consults and other innovative options for communication between patients and members of their health care team.

The Army Medicine's goal is to have all of its primary care facilities in the continental United States and overseas achieve NCQA recognition and transform to the PCMH model of care no later than Oct. 1.

The transition to this model of care is part of Army Medicine's overall shift from a health care system to a system for health.

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