Primary care practices that are patient centered medical homes focus on coordinating each patient’s care across settings and over the lifespan. By building high-performing medical homes states can increase access to coordinated care.

*Milestone details:

*Full name: Assess the degree to which state residents are enrolled in patient-centered medical homes and develop new or support existing efforts to expand enrollment in medical homes.

*Relevance to the ACA:

The ACA provides resources states can use to support, improve, or expand new and existing medical home efforts. While the law promotes the medical home model it does not require states to launch or enhance medical home programs. Some relevant provisions include:

§2703 – Creates a new state plan option for states to establish health homes for Medicaid beneficiaries with chronic conditions. Also offers states enhanced funding for up to eight quarters after approval of a state plan amendment (SPA) implementing this option.

§3021, §10306 – Explicitly identifies the medical home model as one that could be tested by the new CMS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.

§3502 – Establishing Community Health Teams to Support the Patient-Centered Medical Home.

§4108 – Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Medicaid.

§5405 – Grants to states for establishing programs to educate providers on topics including the medical home.

§10333 – Community-based networks will help providers offer comprehensive, coordinated care for low-income populations.