WIESBADEN, Germany -- After nearly a year of hard work, the Wiesbaden Army Health Clinic has been recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as an Army Patient Centered Medical Home.
PCMH is a team approach to healthcare. In a PCMH, Patients are partnered with a team of healthcare professionals which includes their Primary Care Provider, Registered Nurse, Licensed Practice Nurse and Medic. Together over time, the Patient and their health care team, work to treat illness and injuries, promote healthy living and manage ongoing healthcare issues.
"NCQA Level III accreditation is recognition of the professional, quality and safe healthcare provided by our Healthcare Team," said Lt. Col. Michael Hughes, clinic commander. "In addition, it instills a sense of trust and confidence in our Wiesbaden community that their Patient Centered Medical Home provides the highest quality healthcare possible."
The NCQA is a non-profit organization that measures the ability of medical facilities to provide quality healthcare 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' wellbeing, plan and manage care using evidence-based practices, provide self-care support and community resources, as well as track and coordinate tests, referrals and other care for patients. Finally, clinics have to show that they measure their performance and patients' feedback to continue improving the quality of care.
"Our staff is working at maximum capacity daily," Hughes said. "We have grown our enrollment from 6,000 to 8,300 in a 12 month period. This effort is done regardless of the NCQA application process. The application packaging was a huge effort, to dig into all the essential elements of the accreditation, capture the data, and package it in the appropriate way for the NCQA. We had 3-4 primary personnel working on this packaging and presentation of the hard work that is done daily."
Here's what patients can expect from the Wiesbaden Army Health Clinic 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: In the PCMH, 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.
"NCQA level three accreditation is an incredible achievement" Hughes said. "We have attained this during a very turbulent transformation process in Europe, where we increased our enrollment over 30 percent in a very short period of time. It truly is an appropriate recognition of our incredible healthcare professionals and how they come together and work as a great team day in and day out."
Wiesbaden Army Health Clinic is the 13th PCMH in under the Europe Regional Medical Command. 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 Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of care no later than October 1. 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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