KC Blues to Sponsor Medical Home Pilot

HDM Breaking News, November 16, 2009

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Mo.) and the TransforMED consulting subsidiary of the American Academy of Family Physicians will conduct a pilot program of the medical home model with 13 primary care physician group practices in the region.

The Blues plan will provide financial support during the two-year pilot. The goal is analyze the costs and benefits of the medical home model, and better reimburse providers for obtaining quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction goals.

Under the medical home model, physician practices are designated patients' "medical home" to coordinate the continuum of care. The practices are redesigned to be more functional and workflow-friendly, and new processes are developed to focus on quality, safety and alternative reimbursement methods. The care model also calls for extensive use of health information technologies, including electronic health records, e-prescribing, clinical decision support, secure messaging and Web portal software.

Primary care practices participating in the pilot include family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics. More information is available at transformed.com.

--Joseph Goedert

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