A New Primary Care Model in the US

At North Country HealthCare, PCMH (Patient Centered Medical Home), a new care model is now being implemented. This model is not only restricted to being at a physical location but it is also an innovative step toward primary care.

This transformation of primary care is basically organized to prevent most of the expensive medical interventions, including visits to emergency rooms, unimportant office visits and needless hospitalizations etc. A team approach would be used in this medical home to provide a holistic and personalized approach to the care delivering system. Every patient would have some identified medical assistant and primary provider. The main goal is to establish an efficient clinic operation, which would optimize the health level of each patient.

North Country is striving to improve patient care along with assuring the well-being and health of the patients. NCQA (National Committee For Quality Assurance) recognizes those practices that need to meet a certain criteria, including the prioritized relationship between the clinician and patient.  Enhanced access to the care is provided, and PCMH fully meets this criteria.

Care Management can rightly be called a PCMH’s keystone. The care management service ensures that patients who are at a high risk or the ones who have health conditions that are uncontrolled get maximum possible attention. For this, they are provided with a team of health coaches and nurses along with a medical assistant and a care provider. They would pay all the required attention to the patient and would give them necessary education to ensure more quality interaction. In order to achieve the best health, an individual may need services that are more than what a primary care giver can provide in a fifteen to thirty minute appointment.

Added to this, North Country has also made a way through which they can track the patient’s referrals to a specialist as well as monitor the hospitalized patients more efficiently.  They use electronic health records and because of that, are able to monitor patients more actively and provide them with maximum care in order to minimize recovery time. These opportunities include cancer screening and much, much more.

At the moment, North Country HealthCare is preparing its Kingman, Lake Havasu and Flagstaff city clinics for patient-centered medical home that are recognized by NCQA. It plans to make sure that the best services are provided at the lowest possible amount. With their team by their side, Susan Bigly and Sarah Morley, care management/associate medical director and project manager of PCMH respectively, are excited to be recognized as specialists of health care innovation.