History of the Collaborative

In 2005 IBM began to question the very foundation of the healthcare it buys, and reached a significant conclusion: when compared to other industrialized countries, U.S. healthcare fails to deliver comprehensive primary care because of the way primary care is financed. Primary care is the only entity charged with the longitudinal care of the whole patient, and it is the primary care relationship that has the most profound effect on healthcare outcomes. The idea was shaped further when the term "patient centered medical home" was coined and took root with a number of large employers and primary care physician organizations.

The PCPCC was created in late 2006, when approached by several large national employers with the objective of reaching out to the American College of Physicians, the Academy of Family Physicians, and other primary care physician groups in order to (1) facilitate improvements in patient-physician relations, and (2) create a more effective and efficient model of healthcare delivery. To achieve these goals, the PCPCC has become one of the major developers and advocates of the patient centered medical home (PCMH) model in America.

The Collaborative’s membership includes a number of large national employers, most of the major primary care physician associations, health benefits companies, trade associations, profession/affinity groups, academic centers, and healthcare quality improvement associations.

The PCPCC has created an open forum where healthcare stakeholders freely communicate and work together to improve the future of the American medical system. The Collaborative has developed model language for inclusion in health reform proposals to include the PCMH concept. It also acts as a key source for the continued education of congressional representatives, the federal and state governments, and individual practices on the PCHM model as a superior form of healthcare delivery.