Federally funded community health centers with higher patient-centered medical home ratings on measures such as quality improvement had higher operating costs, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers examined the association between PCMH rating and operating cost in primary care practices, specifically among federally funded health centers in 2009. PCMH rating was assessed through surveys of health center administrators of 669 Health Resources and Services Administration-funded community health centers. The survey provided scores from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) for total PCMH score and six subscales on access/communication, care management, external coordination, patient tracking, test/referral tracking and quality improvement. Costs were obtained from the Uniform Data System reports submitted to HRSA.
The average total PCMH score for the study sample was 60, with a low score of 21 and a high of 90. The researchers also found that a 10-point higher subscale score was associated with higher operating cost per physician full-time equivalent for patient tracking ($27,300) and quality improvement ($32,731) and higher operating cost per patient per month for patient tracking ($1.06) and quality improvement ($1.86).
"The cost associated with higher PCMH function is large for a health center, but that cost is relatively small compared with the potential cost savings from averted hospitalization and emergency department use observed in some preliminary PCMH studies," the authors concluded.
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The researchers examined the association between PCMH rating and operating cost in primary care practices, specifically among federally funded health centers in 2009. PCMH rating was assessed through surveys of health center administrators of 669 Health Resources and Services Administration-funded community health centers. The survey provided scores from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) for total PCMH score and six subscales on access/communication, care management, external coordination, patient tracking, test/referral tracking and quality improvement. Costs were obtained from the Uniform Data System reports submitted to HRSA.
The average total PCMH score for the study sample was 60, with a low score of 21 and a high of 90. The researchers also found that a 10-point higher subscale score was associated with higher operating cost per physician full-time equivalent for patient tracking ($27,300) and quality improvement ($32,731) and higher operating cost per patient per month for patient tracking ($1.06) and quality improvement ($1.86).
"The cost associated with higher PCMH function is large for a health center, but that cost is relatively small compared with the potential cost savings from averted hospitalization and emergency department use observed in some preliminary PCMH studies," the authors concluded.
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