The Medical Home: Building a Framework of Higher Quality, Reduced Cost and Patient-Ce...( New Deloitte Center for Health So...),Health

New Deloitte Center for Health Solutions study outlines plan to help primary care doctors better manage chronic illnesses, coordinate care

WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Primary care physicians should exert broader control in managing their patients' chronic diseases and be compensated accordingly for their enhanced role in overall care coordination, a new study from the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions (http://www.deloitte.com/centerforhealthsolutions) concludes.

In its study, "The Medical Home: Disruptive Innovation for a New Primary Care Model,"(http://www.deloitte.com/us/medicalhome) the Center outlines a course of comprehensive patient management, starting with primary care doctors and allied professionals providing a range of diagnostic and therapeutic services to improve care coordination.

Medical home is a health care management model in which the primary health care physician serves as a "health coach" for patients, serving as an advocate for patients, and are paid to deliver a higher level of care coordination. The model predicts a reduction in unnecessary tests and hospital visits, and the Center report details potential savings and implications for policy makers and key industry stakeholders.

"Given the clear correlation between runaway health care costs and lack of attention to chronic care, policy makers must think seriously about the medical home as a solution," said Dr. Paul Keckley, executive director of the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. "It's a logical approach to a persistent problem in U.S. health care."

The objective is to provide patients with a more attentive channel of health care - preventative and acute - over time, while streamlining patient care by leveraging information technology. Expanding the oversight and treatment
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