Includes strategies to save money, build coalitions and engage consumers.

A framework for healthcare purchasers to buy healthcare that reflects the patient-centered medical home was introduced April 16 by The Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, a coalition representing the country’s business leaders, policymakers and 330,000 primary-care physicians, according to a press release published on the Web site www.forbes.com. 

The PCMH model saved one state Medicaid program between $118 million and $130 million in a single year, according to program analysis by Mercer Government Human Services Consulting. Other studies show that the model improves patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes, the release says.

A critical chapter of the organization’s Employer Purchaser Guide was released in unison with the PCPCC’s Stakeholders Working Meeting, held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC. The chapter illuminates six strategies purchasers can use to advance the PCMH model:

            • Participate in regional pilot(s) supported by PCPCC;

            • Incorporate PCMH into insurer procurement and performance assessment activity;

            • Align payment strategy with PCPCC guiding principles;

            • Build coalitions in support of the PCMH;

            • Engage consumers; and

            • Integrate PCMH into other corporate health strategies.

The purchaser guidelines are part of the overall efforts of one of the PCPCC’s working groups, the Center for Benefits Redesign and Implementation, to produce a document to introduce purchasers to the history and philosophy of the PCMH, the release says. When complete, the Employer Purchaser Guide will:

            • define the concept;

            • make a case for the employer’s role in support of the medical home;

            • describe how employers can take action now;

            • provide the tools to purchase healthcare based on the medical home concept; and

            • outline case examples of activities throughout the country.

The report is co-produced by PCPCC and the National Business Coalition on Health, a national membership organization of employer-based healthcare coalitions. The chapter of the report released contains the action steps purchasers can take now to advance the PCMH concept, including a standard health plan request-for-information document, the release says.

“We are starting with the chapter about action steps that purchasers can take because that is what everyone wants to know,” said Dennis White, NBCH’s senior vice president for value-based purchasing. “The definition, rationale and economic benefits of PCMH have been described by others, and we will address those issues next.”

White stressed that the report is a preliminary draft and that feedback and further contributions are invited. The full Employer Purchaser Guide is expected to be available in mid-May, the release says.

“When complete, this guide will offer key characteristics that employers should look for when working with their health plans to implement the patient-centered medical home,” said Edwina Rogers, PCPCC’s executive director and vice president of health policy for the ERISA Industry Committee.

“The chapter released today includes guidance in three broad areas: purchasing criteria and metrics, financial incentive and disincentive strategies, and benefit design recommendations,” she said.