HomeWhat's New TransforMED Celebrates Patient-Centered Medical Home Successes at CareFirst Collaborative

TransforMED Celebrates Patient-Centered Medical Home Successes at CareFirst Collaborative

08/28/2009

A "Medical Home Village" cake helps celebrate the successes of the CareFirst pilot practices.

August 28, 2009 – TransforMED, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians and CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield conducted their second patient-centered medical home (PCMH) learning collaborative at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland on August 8, 2009. The learning collaborative celebrated the pilot practices' PCMH transformational efforts thus far and focused on Care Coordination as well as elements of Care Management, such as population management and chronic disease management.

Practices within the pilot were also given opportunities to share their National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) progress as well as progress surrounding transformational change they have made in their practice to team based care. Practices within the pilot are striving for NCQA level 2 recognition.

"The best way to learn is to allow practices to interact with colleagues from other practices, share common experiences and offer perspectives on tackling the challenges ahead," said Sheila Richmeier, MS, RN, CMPE and TransforMED Practice Enhancement Facilitator. "CareFirst is setting the stage for other practices' PCMH transformational efforts and we're very impressed with the changes these practices have made in 7 months. We have a lot to celebrate," said Richmeier.

There were approximately 50 physicians, nurses, managers and office staff who attended the August 8 collaborative. Some of the additional changes shared by practices at the collaborative were the role changes in team-based care, how to transition from one electronic medical record (EMR) to another and the challenges associated with the change that must occur within the practice when bringing in a new technology. One practice shared their story on the implementation of a patient kiosk at check in to help with the practice's patient engagement and overall patient satisfaction.

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has provided each practice within the pilot a patient registry from MDdatacor to help them monitor their entire patient population and chronic diseases more proactively. A panel discussion during the collaborative highlighted this registry function and focused on the care management piece of TransforMED's patient-centered model of care.

About TransforMED

The Leawood, Kan.-based TransforMED LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Established in 2005, TransforMED provides ongoing consultation and support to physicians looking to transform their practices to a new model of care that is based on the concept of a patient-centered medical home. TransforMED is an active member of primary care communities and recognizes and supports the unique value that primary care offers to patients and the health care system. TransforMED shares and supports the idealism and altruism of primary care physicians and the strong commitment to their communities and patients through continuing patient relationships and independent decision making. TransforMED offers practices both products and services, including consultation and advice on implementing the patient centered medical home model. To learn more about TransforMED, visit www.transformed.com.