Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Access
    • Multimedia
    • Podcast
    • Collections
    • Past Issues
    • Articles by Subject
    • Articles by Type
    • Supplements
    • Plain Language Summaries
    • Calls for Papers
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Job Seekers
    • Media
  • About
    • Annals of Family Medicine
    • Editorial Staff & Boards
    • Sponsoring Organizations
    • Copyrights & Permissions
    • Announcements
  • Engage
    • Engage
    • e-Letters (Comments)
    • Subscribe
    • Podcast
    • E-mail Alerts
    • Journal Club
    • RSS
    • Annals Forum (Archive)
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
  • Careers

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
Annals of Family Medicine
  • My alerts
Annals of Family Medicine

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Content
    • Current Issue
    • Early Access
    • Multimedia
    • Podcast
    • Collections
    • Past Issues
    • Articles by Subject
    • Articles by Type
    • Supplements
    • Plain Language Summaries
    • Calls for Papers
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Job Seekers
    • Media
  • About
    • Annals of Family Medicine
    • Editorial Staff & Boards
    • Sponsoring Organizations
    • Copyrights & Permissions
    • Announcements
  • Engage
    • Engage
    • e-Letters (Comments)
    • Subscribe
    • Podcast
    • E-mail Alerts
    • Journal Club
    • RSS
    • Annals Forum (Archive)
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
  • Careers
  • Follow annalsfm on Twitter
  • Visit annalsfm on Facebook
NewsFamily Medicine UpdatesF

Academy Launches Comprehensive Patient-Centered Medical Home Resources

Sheri Porter
The Annals of Family Medicine July 2009, 7 (4) 378-379; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1029
Sheri Porter
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

In early June, the Academy launched a new area on its Web site. The patient-centered medical home, or PCMH, section of the Web site, was created by the Academy to make family physicians’ transition to the medical home as smooth as possible.

The PCMH section offers a varied assortment of tools to help physicians reach their PCMH goals, and it provides a pictorial representation of the medical home (Figure 1⇓), which is constructed of 4 building blocks atop a foundational base.

The foundation of the medical home is represented by a single block that symbolizes the specialty’s core values. That’s significant because family medicine is the only medical discipline dedicated to treating the whole person across the full age spectrum with a continuous and comprehensive approach to care.

Each block of the color-coded house represents a critical piece of the PCMH. Physicians are invited to roam the virtual house and explore all of the resources within each area. The 4 main components of the structure are

  • practice organization for physician practices striving for disciplined financial management, strong staff relationships and a reliance on clinical systems that deliver high quality care

  • health information technology for physicians using technology to run a practice that is efficient in its business, clinical and communication processes

  • quality measures for physicians who need to discover ways to enhance the quality of health care delivered to patients; and

  • patient experience for physicians interested in creating a practice that patients embrace and choose to call their medical home

Bruce Bagley, MD, AAFP’s medical director of quality improvement, said the Web pages were designed to be physician-friendly and easy to navigate. Physicians can even download a PCMH checklist to map their progress.

“The site provides a direct link to TransforMED (a wholly owned subsidiary of the AAFP that helps physicians redesign their practices) so that users can enjoy 1-stop shopping for all the PCMH tools they need,” he said.

Bagley noted that the creators of the site intend for users to drop in often. “They expect physicians and their office teams—all of whom have unfettered free access to the site 24 hours a day—to dig deep and work at a pace that suits each individual practice,” he added.

Academy leaders recognize and applaud the work that AAFP members have already undertaken, said Bagley. “Family physicians are on the right path as they renovate and remodel their practices.”

The Academy also realizes that health care reform must include an overhaul of the current payment system. “AAFP leaders want to ensure that family physicians are poised to take advantage of any payment reform that centers on the patient-centered medical home,” said Bagley.

He encouraged FPs to jump online and enter the site with a fresh look and a renewed focus. “Members should get engaged in the medical home building process and keep moving forward with their good work,” he said.

The PCMH section of the Academy’s Web site is supported by a grant from Merck & Co, Inc.

Figure 1.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint
Figure 1.

Patient-centered medical home.

Footnotes

  • For information on policy research carried out by the AAFP’s Robert Graham Center, see the Graham Center’s Web site at http://www.graham-center.org/online/graham/home.html.

  • © 2009 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Annals of Family Medicine: 7 (4)
The Annals of Family Medicine: 7 (4)
Vol. 7, Issue 4
1 Jul 2009
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
  • In Brief
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Annals of Family Medicine.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Academy Launches Comprehensive Patient-Centered Medical Home Resources
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Annals of Family Medicine
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Annals of Family Medicine web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
1 + 2 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
Academy Launches Comprehensive Patient-Centered Medical Home Resources
Sheri Porter
The Annals of Family Medicine Jul 2009, 7 (4) 378-379; DOI: 10.1370/afm.1029

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Get Permissions
Share
Academy Launches Comprehensive Patient-Centered Medical Home Resources
Sheri Porter
The Annals of Family Medicine Jul 2009, 7 (4) 378-379; DOI: 10.1370/afm.1029
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Support for the WHO Resolution on Social Participation
  • Resident Leadership Roles and Selection
  • New Advocacy Ambassadors Program Helps AAFP Members Engage With Their Legislators
Show more Family Medicine Updates

Similar Articles

Content

  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Early Access
  • Plain-Language Summaries
  • Multimedia
  • Podcast
  • Articles by Type
  • Articles by Subject
  • Supplements
  • Calls for Papers

Info for

  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • Job Seekers
  • Media

Engage

  • E-mail Alerts
  • e-Letters (Comments)
  • RSS
  • Journal Club
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Subscribe
  • Family Medicine Careers

About

  • About Us
  • Editorial Board & Staff
  • Sponsoring Organizations
  • Copyrights & Permissions
  • Contact Us
  • eLetter/Comments Policy

© 2025 Annals of Family Medicine