Claribel Cruz
Professor Raimondo
HCA 450
Defining Concepts
07/07/15

According to the American College of Physicians, a patient centered medical home (PCMH) is “a care delivery model whereby patient treatment is coordinated through their primary care physician to ensure they receive the necessary care when and where they need it, in a manner they can understand.” It is said to be broken down into five functions and attributes which consist of comprehensive care, patient centeredness, coordinated care, accessible services and quality/safety. Although some of these practices vary in sizes, the health care teams are built so that they can provide the comprehensive care needs (prevention & wellness, acute and chronic care) they are accountable to meet. Patient centeredness being included in PCMH allows the practice to partner up with their patients and families for a better understanding in each patient’s needs, values and preferences (basically building a relationship). PCMH also coordinates care through a broader health care system through specialty care, hospitals and home health care and etc. Women & Infants Hospital could be an example of a health care system that is involved with coordinated care since the have specialty care facilities for cancer patients and those with other severe illnesses.
PCMH is very essential to the future of health care because of its five functions and attributes. This care model ensures that the patients get the best healthcare service possible at their convenience. It keeps them involved and also ensures that they know what is going on and can be treated by their primary health care provider/a provider that they’ve already had a long time relationship with. Since PCMH is composed of coordinated care practices can expand their practices to other types of facilities such as specialty care, hospitals, home health care and community services. Expansion will make healthcare more accessible and also will create more jobs in the healthcare field for the future.
Value-based purchasing (VBP) is a demand side strategy to measure, report, and reward excellence in health care delivery. It involves the actions of coalitions, employer purchasers, public sector purchasers, health plans, and individual consumers when making decisions. Their decisions are based among the topics of accessibility, affordability, quality, efficiency and the alignment of incentives. Incentives consist of improved reputations through public reporting, enhances payments through differential reimbursement, and increased market share through purchaser, payer, and/or consumer selection. This strategy is an external motivator for providers to lead the re-engineering of health care delivery.
VBP is important to the future of healthcare because it can help shift the pattern of employers using employee benefits as an employee recruitment and retention tool rather than a way to increase productivity and the populations overall well-being. VBP is said to lower healthcare costs over time as the current incentives present in our healthcare system begin to transform.
Evidence based practice (EBP) can be considered as a strategy that consists of applying the best available research results when making decisions about healthcare. Healthcare professionals who perform EBP use their findings along with clinical expertise and patient preferences. Summaries of healthcare research results provide information that’s in the process of EBP.
EBP is important to our future in healthcare because it allows patients to receive the best care there is based on future research findings. For example, a health care provider may recommend acetaminophen to treat arthritis pain to someone who recently has had/is prone to stomach bleeding rather than any other pain relievers that may be more/less expensive. The health care provider may recommend acetaminophen than the other pain relievers because there is evidence that shows it is allied with less risks of stomach