Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative Helps Adirondack Region Medical Home Project Achieve Major Milestone in Care Coordination

The Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot Program, with implementation support services from the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), recently had 29 of 31 primary care practices recognized as Level 3 NCQA Recognition – the highest level achievable.

Key highlights from the announcement today include:

•       With MAeHC’s support and expertise, the Adirondack PCMH met and exceeded the HEAL 10 New York grant initial project goal of NCQA Level 2 Recognition for all participating practices.
•       NCQA’s PCMH Recognition Program evaluates the use of health information technology like EHRs to capture patient information and ensure that all necessary providers have uninterrupted access to critical data.
•       The Adirondack Regional Medical Home Pilot Project is a collaborative effort to transform the delivery healthcare system in rural upstate New York through a PCMH model and the implementation of health information technology.

New York State Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot Program Far Exceeds Federal Grant Requirements with Level 3 NCQA Recognition of 29 Practices

Waltham, Mass., December 12, 2011 – The Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot Program recently had 29 of 31 primary care practices recognized as Level 3 Patient Centered Medical Homes from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) – the highest level achievable. With the implementation support services and expertise of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC), the healthcare providers of the Adirondack region were able to meet and exceed the HEAL 10 New York grant initial project goal of NCQA Level 2 Recognition for all participating practices. This accomplishment marks a major milestone in the Adirondack Medical Home Project and the collaborative effort to transform the healthcare delivery system in this rural, upstate New York region.

The NCQA’s PCMH Recognition Program acknowledges physician practices that emphasize a team-based approach to patient care, with a focus on coordination of care, quality, safety and preventative care of chronic conditions. A key component of this NCQA designation is the use of health information technology like electronic health records (EHRs) to capture patient information and ensure that all necessary providers have uninterrupted access to critical data. To facilitate the use of EHRs, pilot participants enlisted the support services of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. MAeHC offered expert implementation services to assist in vendor selection, workflow design and optimization and EHR deployment.

“Having 29 of the 31 primary practices achieve the Level 3 Medical Home designation is an outstanding achievement for the Adirondacks PCMH project and for our region at large.  It is a powerful demonstration of our shared commitment to clinical quality, continuity of care, EHR adoption and creating a community of health and wellness,” said Karen Ashline, Pod Director of the Plattsburgh community for the Adirondacks Medical Home Project. “Without the knowledge and dedication of the MAeHC team this level of interoperability and PCP document standardization would have been virtually impossible.”

The Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot Project, which began in January 2010, is a joint initiative of medical providers and public and private insurers.  Organized into three geographic pods across the Adirondack North Country region, the program was designed to improve the coordination and management of patient care through a patient centered medical home (PCMH) model and the implementation of interoperable health information technology.

“The Adirondacks PCMH initiative has really set the bar for creating a strategic process to bring together a large number of primary practices, in the most rural of communities, to build a secure and quality medical home model,” said Micky Tripathi, CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative. “This highest NCQA recognition is even more significant when considering the quality improvement element that evaluates patient and provider satisfaction and quality outcomes.  This achievement recognizes not only what the health information infrastructure of the Adirondacks Region Medical Home Project can do, but also measures the overall improvement on quality of care.”

To improve and enhance regional healthcare services, the HEAL 10 New York grant is supporting collaborative projects like the Adirondack PCMH pilot across all regions of New York State.

About Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative (MAeHC)

The Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative is a national leader in the facilitation and management of electronic health record deployment, health information exchange and quality measure reporting. MAeHC was formed in 2004 to bring together the state’s major health care stakeholders for the purpose of establishing an electronic health record system that would enhance the quality, efficiency, and safety of care in Massachusetts. MAeHC’s charitable mission is to transform the delivery of health care by promoting the use of health IT through community-based adoption of electronic health records and health information exchange. To learn more about the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, please visit www.maehc.org.

About Northern Adirondack Medical Home Project

The Adirondack Region Medical Home project is a joint initiative of medical providers and public and private insurers to transform health care delivery in the rural, upstate New York Region. As the largest Medical Home Pilot Project in the country, its goals are to improve care, expand access and contain costs by providing a new model for the delivery of health care services that emphasizes the role of primary care. Partners in this project include health care providers in 31 practices (representing 105 physicians and 90 physician assistants and nurse practitioners) and five hospitals across the counties of Clinton, Essex, Franklin and Hamilton.  Primary care providers are from CVPH and the surrounding Plattsburgh area, Elizabethtown Community Hospital, Malone and Alice Hyde Medical Center, Adirondack Medical Center and the Trudeau Health System, Hudson Headwaters Health Network, Inter-lakes Health, and the Smith House Health Care Center.

   

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