Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center's Patient-Centered Medical Home Pilot Project
In June 2008, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and CIGNA launched a "patient-centered medical home" pilot program, to further enhance the coordination and quality of care for patients covered by a CIGNA health plan and receiving care from Dartmouth-Hitchcock primary care physicians. The goal is to provide patients with a comprehensive, coordinated approach to primary care, which in turn leads to improved quality and lower medical costs.
Dr. Barbara Walters, senior medical director, Dartmouth-Hitchcock stated, "Our partnership with CIGNA to pilot the patient-centered medical home program exemplifies our ongoing mission to achieve the healthiest population by providing each person with the best care, at the right time, every time, as well as our organizations working together to set the standard for this new model of patient care."
Beginning in April 2005, Dartmouth-Hitchcock participated in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Group Practice demonstration project allowing DHMC to refine the care management/care coordination processes, enhance access, and improve the information available for data from ambulatory clinics. Ninety-two percent of these 20 primary care practices across the state involved at least one patient advisor in the first year. Among the collaborative activities are the following:
- Patient and family advisors participated in efforts to improve access, helping to define—from their perspective—"good" access.
- Patient advisors participated in a campaign to reduce the number of times patients have to repeat their information. The campaign called "We know why you are here today" has created positive first impressions for the patient experience. Reflecting on the involvement of advisors in the development of this campaign, the supervising physician said, "They were great! They thought of things we never would have and now I can't imagine doing these things without patients being part of the work!"
- Patient and family advisors helped shape the design of a new ambulatory facility, how it would be used, and how it would "feel" to patients and the community.
- Advisors participated on teams conducting interviews of candidates for such positions as physicians, flex-team nurses, and clinical social workers. One advisor said to a nurse on the panel, "I'm not sure I know enough about medicine to ask useful questions." The nurse replied, "Don't worry. You can leave the clinical stuff to us, but you watch out for their attitude!"
All 20 of DHMC's primary care practices are now recognized as Level 3 Patient-Centered Medical Homes by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
