FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- Already known as "Site 1" throughout the Army Medical Command as the first Army hospital to receive recognition for Patient-Centered Medical Home program care status, General Leonard Wood Army Community Hospital has done it again.
The Richard G. Wilson Soldier-Centered Medical Home is the first Soldier-Centered Medical Home in the Army's Training and Doctrine Command to achieve "Army Medical Home" (AMH) status.
"The SCMH designation marks a significant shift in how we look at the healthcare we provide to initial entry and TDY military members," said Ashley Wilson, charge nurse at the Richard G. Wilson SCMH.
"We provide our patients with healthcare according to the AMH model, with the exception of those program elements that are not available to us to provide," Wilson said. "Primary Care Managers are assigned at a Soldiers' permanent duty station. So, this means that entry level trainees would receive AMH team-based and patient-centered care here, and then their PCM would be assigned at their first permanent duty station."
Fort Leonard Wood now showcases the full compliment of the Army's three Medical Home models: the Leonard Wood Medical Home (LWMH), a Military Treatment Facility-based Medical Home, the Ozark Family-Centered Medical Home (OFCMH), a Community-Based Medical Home, and now the Richard G. Wilson Soldier-Centered Medical Home (SCMH).
The AMH model encompasses all primary care delivery site models in the direct care system and is the foundation of readiness and health. It represents a fundamental change in how the Army provides comprehensive care for beneficiaries, involving primary care, behavioral health, clinical pharmacy, dietetics, physical therapy, and case management.
An AMH is a multidisciplinary approach for delivery of comprehensive primary healthcare through an integrated healthcare team that proactively engages patients as partners in health.
"Home is an operative word in Army Medical Home. It speaks to the relationship between the care team and the patient," said John Ingersoll, GLWACH's chief of Clinical Operations. "Home" is where patients can go for help, care and advice to improve their health and wellness."
A Soldier Centered Medical Home serves active duty, guard and reserve members from any branch of the military. Its mission is to improve and enhance individual and unit medical readiness using the medical home multidisciplinary health care team approach.
Community Based Medical Homes were developed to put patient centered care in our communities where our beneficiaries live.
All three models use the medical home team-based approach to provide integrated and coordinated focus to ensure timely, accurate diagnoses, optimized return-to-duty rates, and decreased recovery times.
"We want initial entry Soldiers to have a good experience with Army Medicine here so that they have an accurate reflection of the caring "Medical Home" concept," Wilson said. "And we want military members who are here temporarily for training to receive the exceptional patient-centered, team-based care they've come to expect from the Army System for Health."
What can patients expect from a 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.
--Physician-directed medical practice. The personal physician leads a team(s) of individuals at the practice level who collectively take responsibility for ongoing patient care.
--Whole person orientation. The personal provider is responsible for providing all of the patient's health care needs or for arranging care with other qualified professionals.
--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.
--Quality and safety focus: All members of the healthcare team are focused on ensuring high quality care in the medical home.
--Improved access: With the PCMH care model, enhanced access to care options are available through open scheduling, same day appointments, secure messaging, and other innovative options for communication between patients, their personal physician and practice staff.
Army Medicine's goal is to have all of its primary care facilities in the continental United States and overseas achieve AMH designation and transform to the PCMH model of care.
The transition to the PCMH 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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