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Commentary: A Variation on the Patient‐Centered Medical Home: Transforming Primary Care within the Veteran's Health Administration
Author(s) -
Spencer Jacqueline K.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/puar.12126
Subject(s) - administration (probate law) , health care , citation , primary care , crucible (geodemography) , library science , political science , medicine , psychology , sociology , family medicine , law , computer science , demography
The comprehensive article by David B. Klein, Miriam J. Laugesen, and Nan Liu evaluates the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) and questions whether this is truly a model for American health care. From my experience within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), I concur that the components of the patient-centered medical home are valuable and provide a more eff ective model for U.S. health care. As the largest integrated health care system and an accountable care organization, the VHA is in a position to maximize the potential benefi ts of this model of care delivery. As the authors discuss, integrated health care systems have more fl exibility with resources given their size and may have advantages not readily available. In 2010, the VHA began its own large-scale primary care transformation, termed the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) model of care delivery, equivalent to the PCMH. Th e VHA had a preexisting infrastructure with elements of a PCMH, thus positioning it well for this transformation. However, it was unclear whether this would lead to further improvement in quality or cost containment.