WASHINGTON, DC -- 10/15/07 --
Representatives from seven of the nation's
most prominent health benefits companies -- Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield
Association, CIGNA, Humana, MVP Health Care, UnitedHealthcare, and
WellPoint, Inc. -- have joined in support of patient-care improvements led
by the
Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC). The collaborative
is dedicated to advancing a new primary-care-based healthcare model called
the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), in large part by creating a
"critical mass of employer support."
In supporting the PCPCC, the health benefits companies have joined with a
membership that already includes the four major primary care physicians'
professional societies -- including the American Academy of Family
Physicians (AAFP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American
College of Physicians (ACP) and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
-- as well as national employers and their associations, quality advocacy
groups, academic centers, and consumer advocacy groups. The PCPCC has
gathered momentum and national attention since its formation early last
year.
The companies' support came in advance of the PCPCC's Call-To-Action Summit
on Restructuring and Reintegrating Health Care around the Patient, which is
scheduled to take place at the Columbus Club at Union Station in
Washington, DC on November 7. It
was affirmed at a recent meeting hosted by the PCPCC for stakeholders in
the employer-provided benefit system, where efforts to broaden access and
quality of care coordinated by primary care physicians was discussed.
In addition to joining the PCPCC, the health benefits companies committed
to:
-- Work toward the development and implementation of a series of multi-
payer Medical Home pilot demonstrations, and
-- Contribute to the evidence in current health services research that
suggests patients treated under a medical home model are healthier,
experience a higher quality of care, and receive that care more cost
effectively.
"Primary care that is squarely centered on each patient's individual needs
is the only hope for fixing the broken U.S. healthcare system," said Paul
Grundy, M.D., PCPCC Chairman and IBM Director of Healthcare, Technology and
Strategic Planning. "It is for this reason that IBM and other large
employers have joined leading physicians' and consumer groups -- and now
the world's leading health benefits companies -- in a full-court press to
fully assess patient-centered primary care and the Patient Centered Medical
Home model as foundational to the rebuilding of the nation's healthcare
system."
Stakeholder representatives also confirmed their belief that the principles
embraced by the four primary care physicians' professional societies last
March broadly describe the services a medical home model should deliver to
patients. They believe that the PCMH, as defined by the four societies,
provides an innovative and promising avenue through which employers, plans,
doctors and consumer advocates can join in offering both a superior
standard and system for healthcare delivery to patients -- and also offers
a more efficient and cost-effective delivery model.
The PCMH model is based upon evidence that recipients of personalized
primary care live healthier, longer lives. By restructuring traditional
reimbursement practices -- which currently incentivize physician
specialization -- to support this transformation and reward the
comprehensive delivery of primary care, the model seeks to expand the role
of primary care physicians as coordinators of the multi-faceted health
needs of their patients.
The PCMH already has been implemented in several markets around the
country. In the North Carolina Medicaid program, for example, independent
evaluations have shown that the concept can achieve a high level of patient
satisfaction -- including improved handling of chronic care patients -- and
significant cost savings.
CONTACT:
Gina Jesberg
IBM Public Relations
(203) 445-1545
ginajes@us.ibm.com
