Safety Net Medical Home Initiative
In May 2008, The Commonwealth Fund, Qualis Health and the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation at the Group Health Research Institute initiated a demonstration project to help safety net primary care clinics become high-performing patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) and achieve benchmark levels of quality, efficiency and patient experience. The goal of the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative (“the Initiative”) is to develop and demonstrate a replicable and sustainable implementation model for medical home transformation.
The Initiative calls for partnerships between safety net providers and community stakeholders to work together towards a new model of primary care delivery that is recognized and rewarded for its holistic approach to patient care. Policy activation is critical in this transformation, and all partners in this Initiative are expected to participate in Medicaid and other policy reform efforts in their respective regions.
Five Regional Coordinating Centers were selected to participate in the demonstration project, and each partnered with 12-15 safety net clinics in their state. These collaboratives will receive technical assistance on practice re-design topics such as enhanced access, care coordination, and patient experience. They will also receive funding to support a Medical Home Facilitator (who will lead clinic-based quality improvement projects) and other activities. The work of the Regional Coordinating Centers began in April 2009 and the Initiative will continue through April 2013.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) in cooperation with the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers (The League) serve as the Regional Coordinating Center (RCC).
EOHHS
EOHHS is the largest Commonwealth secretariat with jurisdiction over 16 agencies including oversight of the Medicaid program, Department of Public Health, Department of Health Care Finance and Policy, and responsible for nearly half of the Commonwealth’s $28 billion budget. As a major purchaser and regulator of healthcare, EOHHS is able to exert a strong convening role among public and private stakeholders in the Commonwealth’s healthcare system.
The League
Established in 1972, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers is a nonprofit, statewide association representing and serving the needs of the state's 52 community health centers. The League serves as an information source on community-based healthcare to policymakers, opinion leaders and the media, and provides a wide range of technical assistance to its members and communities, including:
- Analysis of state and federal health regulatory and policy issues affecting health centers;
- Training and Education for health center administrators, clinicians and board members;
- Workforce Development initiatives to increase recruitment of primary care physicians and to provide career training for both current health center employees and local residents seeking entry-level positions at health centers;
- Information Technology Development primarily focused on electronic medical records implementation; and
- Support to Expand Health Access through work with local health and advocacy organizations seeking to open health centers in their communities.
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