WIHI: The Medical Home

Date: August 6, 2009

 

Featuring:

• Douglas Eby, Vice President of Medical Services, Southcentral Foundation, Alaska
• Jim Hester, Director, Health Care Reform Commission, Vermont

 

A chorus is calling for much better coordination and delivery of health care services across the continuum of care. That’s good news for patients with chronic health problems especially, who often benefit from a person, place, or that has the complete picture of their needs. The “patient-centered medical home” and “accountable care organization” are two important concepts and models that are emerging to jumpstart this system redesign and they’re now the basis for multiple demonstration projects across the country, including ones spearheaded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

 

Two leading experts on how and where the medical home and accountable care principles can make the biggest difference at this stage of development join WIHI host Madge Kaplan. Dr. Doug Eby, known for his innovative ideas with a customer-owned Alaska Native integrated health system is focused on something that’s adaptive, flexible, and built around the patient journey most of all. Jim Hester is knee-deep in health care reform in the state of Vermont where learning about and piloting an accountable care organization is now the stuff of law. The medical home and accountable care organization are also very much on the minds of those drafting health care reform bills in Congress.