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University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program at Smoky Hill

The University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita Family Medicine Residency Program at Smoky Hill in Salina, Kansas, today unveiled plans to adopt the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model of care in it's family medicine training and education program. The transformation project is supported in part by a $49,500 grant from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund.

Rick Kellerman, MD, professor and chair, Department of Family and Community Medicine, KUSM-Wichita, and a former program director at Smoky Hill

For over 25 years the Smoky Hill Family Medicine Residency Program has produced dedicated, well-trained family physicians serving rural Kansas communities. Since the program's establishment in 1979, 92% of the program's graduates have been placed in rural communities and small towns. Smoky Hill is nationally recognized for the both excellence of its program and the quality of its residents. And now, it becomes one of the first residency programs in the nation to offer family medicine residency training in a patient-centered medical home environment.

"Family physicians at all stages of their careers are learning new and better ways to care for their patients," said Rick Kellerman, M.D., professor and chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the KU School of Medicine-Wichita. "The adoption of the medical home model at the residency level is particularly important, because the office practices physicians learn in residency – good or bad – tend to translate into their 'real life' practice upon graduation."

The three-year implementation of the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model will be guided by Practice Enhancement Facilitators from TransforMED, LLC, a subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians. The transformation at Smoky Hill will focus on the optimization of its recently implemented electronic health record system to include a chronic disease registry that helps physicians track the progress and outcomes of the clinic's chronically ill patients.

Robert Freelove, MD, program director at Smoky Hill and Virginia Elliott vice-president for program at United Methodist Health Ministry Fund

The Patient-Centered Medical Home Model at Smoky Hill will place a renewed emphasis on chronic disease management. "As chronic disease becomes more prevalent in our society, it will be important for primary care practices to adopt office protocols in which physicians, other health care providers and community resources interact to improve the care of patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure," said Smoky Hill Program Director, Robert Freelove, M.D.

Patients at Smoky Hill can expect to encounter many improvements to care and service as the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model is integrated into day-to-day operations. Same day appointments, expanded office hours, and a "quick clinic" for patients with minor complaints such as an ear ache or sore throat, are just a few of the planned care-delivery innovations that will benefit Smoky Hill's patients.

"TransforMED is excited about the opportunity to work with the Smoky Hill Family Medicine Residency program," said Terry McGeeney, M.D., president and CEO of TransforMED. "We applaud the faculty for its support of the patient-centered medical home model of care at the residency level because it will help ensure future family physicians are prepared to practice in today's rapidly changing environment of new medical technologies and patient-centered care."