Safety Net Medical Home Initiative Guide Series

"The second edition of the SNMHI Implementation Guide Series has been published which includes updated materials and many new tools.  The second edition was informed by the experience and learning of sites that participated in the SNMHI and by reviewers and contributors from across the country.

SNMHI Materials:

• NEW Introductory materials describe how and where to being the PCMH transformation.
• NEW Executive Summaries provide a concise description of each Change Concept, its role in PCMH transformation, and key implementation activities and actions.
• Implementation Guides, which provide an introduction to the Change Concept, implementation strategies and tools, and case studies, were updated and expanded.  New additions include:  the role of health information technology (HIT), case studies, and additional resources.
• NEW 23 tools that can be used to test or apply the key changes.  Tools include an interactive Do-it-Yourself Run Chart, Determining the Right Panel Size Worksheet, and a Secret Shopper Exercise to test the ease of scheduling an appointment from the patient's perspective.
• A revised interactive PCMH-A (version 3.1).
• Change Concepts for Practice Transformation and 2011 NCQA PCMH Recognition Standards: A Crosswalk
• NEW Downloadable registry of tools and resources, which includes all resources and tools hosted on the site and those hyperlinked within the documents on the site.

We also recently published SNMHI Project Summary: July 2013, which provides a snapshot of the Initiative's achievements, provides more information about the SNMHI library, and describes what comes next.

All materials are free and available on the SNMHI website.  Please contact us with the questions or comments at info@qhmedicalhome.org."  [Source:  SNMHI]

Upcoming Webinar: Gauging the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative's Impact on Primary Care

"The Commonwealth Fund's Safety Net Medical Home Initiative is drawing to a close this year.  Guided by Qualis Health and the MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation, this five-year demonstration involving more than 65 primary care safety-net sites has influenced the field of primary care redesign and practice transformation in a number of ways.  An upcoming webinar will highlight the initiative's key achievements, including lessons on practice coaching, learning communities, and the sequence of redesign steps.  Join this free, one hour webinar to learn more about the initiative's legacy from the perspective of both researchers and clinic directors on the ground.

What:  Gauging Safety Net Medical Home Initiative's Impact on Primary Care
When:  July 9 at 3:00pm ET
Speakers:  Jonathan Sugarman, M.D., Qualis Helath; Ed Wagner, M.D., MacColl Center for Health Care Innovation at the Group Health Research Institute; and Stephen Weeg, Ed.D., Health West.  Commonwealth Fund vice president Melinda Abrams will moderate the event."

Click here to register.   [Source:  Commonwealth Fund]

New Website and Publications from the Safety Net Medical Initiative

The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative announces the publication of two new Engaged Leadership Implementation Guide Supplements.  These include:

Engaged Leadership: Resources for Leaders. The supplement provides additional tools, resources and training programs to assist leaders moving forward in patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) transformation. The need for leaders to provide motivation, remove barriers and identify ideas that will lead to organization-level change is ongoing. This supplement will assist leaders in this longitudinal effort.

Engaged Leadership: How Health Center Board Members Can Support Medical Home Transformation.  This guide provides ideas and strategies that health center board members can use to help the centers they govern become high-performing PCMHs.

Also, the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative has a new website!  The new site has improved navigation and new pages for PCMH assessment and recognition.

Publications: Safety Net Medical Home Initiative

The Safety Net Medical Home Initiative announced three new supplements to the SNMHI implementation guides:

• Care Coordination: Strategies to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Department Use (February 2012)
  Provides strategies and interventions practices can use to reduce avoidable ED visits, including educating patients on appropriate use, enhancing access to the primary care practice, and improving care coordination and care transitions.

• Continuous and Team-Based Healing Relationships: Redefining Staff Roles: Where to Start (February 2012)
  Intended to be used by line, site, and organization-level leadership interested in redesigning staff roles for PCMH transformation. It includes recommendations on how to begin the process of redesigning roles and how to avoid pitfalls.

• Organized, Evidence-Based Care: Improving Care for Complex Patients: The Role of the RN Care Manager (January 2012)
  Defines care management and provides practical recommendations about how to provide care management services to high-risk patients. It encompasses both efforts to coordinate care and to deliver clinical services such as monitoring, self-management support and medication review and adjustment.