Guide provides supporting research, action steps, contracting language and sample RFI language for employers/purchasers

Washington, DC July 16, 2008 Today the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), a coalition representing the country's national business leaders, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians and other health care stakeholders, released its Purchaser Guide to the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The Purchaser Guide is a handbook for understanding the medical home model and taking action to advance its implementation.

The PCPCC is organized and financed to provide better outcomes for patients, more efficient payment to physicians and better value, accountability and transparency to purchasers and consumers. Studies of the PCMH model show that it improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. It also lowers health care costs by improving care coordination and communication between primary care physicians and their patients.

"Employers as purchasers have the leverage to push for transformative change in the way we finance health care to bring about better care delivery," said Edwina Rogers, PCPCC's executive director and vice president of health policy, The ERISA Industry Committee. "The Purchaser Guide sets out the clear advantages of the PCMH model for both employers and consumers, and provides the tools to take action today."

The guide begins with a definition of the medical home concept and sets out advantages of its implementation for employers based on effectiveness for improving outcomes and lowering health care costs. A central impetus of the guide is to spur employer activity. One section illuminates a three- step "jump start" to help employers begin, plus six strategies purchasers can use to advance the PCMH model now:

• Participate in a regional pilot;
• Incorporate PCMH into insurer procurement and performance assessment activity;
• Align payment strategy with PCPCC adoption objectives;
• Build coalitions in support of PCMH;
• Engage consumers; and
• Integrate PCMH into other corporate health strategies.

To flesh out the model, the Purchaser Guide offers five case studies of PCMH initiatives and includes 21 summary examples of PCMH models in operation through the United States. One case study of the PCMH in practice in North Carolina saved the state's Medicaid program approximately $124 million in a single year.

The guide also includes sample insurance contract language and a Request for Information (RFI) document designed to assist purchasers who want to work with health plans to advance PCMH.

The Purchaser Guide was developed over a six- month period by one of the PCPCC's four working groups, the Center for Benefits Redesign and Implementation. Written by Michael Bailit of Bailit Health Purchasing, LLC, members of the Center for Benefits Redesign and Implementation offered strategic input and review of the contents. It is co- produced by PCPCC and the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), a national membership organization of employer-based health care coalitions.

"Employers, as purchasers of health care and as stewards of workforce health and productivity, have every reason to become advocates for a reinvigorated primary care infrastructure in this country," said Andrew Webber, NBCH's president and CEO. "The Purchaser Guide was conceived as a blueprint for employers on practical action steps that they can take to advance patient-centered primary care. I urge swift adoption by employers everywhere if we are to reverse the current erosion of primary care and reorient our health care system towards health promotion, disease prevention and chronic care management."

"Employers are on the front lines when it comes to rising health care costs, and it's in our best interest to ask key questions when we purchase coverage on behalf of employees, and align our payment practices to expand the reach of PCMH," said Paul Grundy, MD, chairman of the PCPCC and director of Healthcare Transformation and Strategic Initiatives at IBM. "We also play an important role in educating consumers about the importance of having a primary care physician and what it can mean for their own good health. Primary care physicians will play a primary role in this transformation. We need structures that help them become more accessible and proactive in care coordination and disease prevention."

"The Patient-Centered Medical Home: A Purchaser Guide" can be downloaded free of charge (Click here). For more information about the PCPCC, go to www.pcpcc.net.

Read more: FAQs about the Guide

Note to editors: The Guide is being released at the July 16 PCPCC Stakholder meeting: Advancing the Patient-Centered Medical Home: What Does it Take? The meeting is being held from 8:45 am - 4:00 pm (Eastern) at the International Trade Center, Ronald Reagan Building, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. For more information or to register for a press pass go to www.pcpcc.net or call 703-319-0957

About the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative

The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative is a coalition of more than 150 major employers, consumer groups, organizations representing primary care physicians, and other stakeholders who have joined to advance the patient-centered "medical home." The Collaborative believes that, if implemented, the patient-centered medical home will improve the health of patients and the health care delivery system. For more information on the patient- centered medical home and a complete list of the PCPCC members, please visit http://www.pcpcc.net/.

Karla Hurter