Benefits for Patients

What do the key patient centred medical home principles mean for patients?

  • Accessibility ensures care is available when you need it.
  • Commitment to quality and safety means clinics take responsibility for you and your community and provide quality care.
  • Comprehensive care ensures you receive the care, information and services you need to stay healthy.
  • Continuous care allows providers to know their you better and work with you to improve your health over time.
  • Coordination by clinics helps you to navigate the healthcare system so that you can receive the care you need in a safe and timely way.
  • Patient-centred care ensures that you and your families needs and preferences are put first. Care will draw on a your strengths and allow you to set goals. Communication should be culturally appropriate and understandable for everyone.1

What should patients expect from a patient centred medical home?

Patients of a patient centred medical home could experience some or all of the benefits listed below.

  • I have one clinic that looks after all of my health needs.
  • I can access the clinic differently depending on my needs. If I have a quick question, I can call or email. If I am on holidays, I may be able to access the clinic through video call.
  • I have better access to my doctor because special, additional appointment slots have been set aside for registered patients like me.
  • The staff member will have discussed my case with the other staff involved in my care before my appointment. This means that I do not have to repeat my history, conditions and symptoms every time I visit.
  • Consultations are not rushed, and I have all elements of my health considered.
  • I receive safe, effective and thorough care delivered with compassion.
  • My care is more personalised.
  • Advice is given about the best way to manage my health and specific condition during my day-to-day life.
  • I have any referrals or tests booked for me by a staff member from the practice, and am sent reminder notifications for all appointments.
  • There is no need for me to transfer documents, results or information from one healthcare setting to another because they are all linked to one computer database.
  • A system is in place so that any patient care that occurs outside the general practice (for example, in a hospital, or with an allied health practitioner) is fed back to the practice. Any follow-up actions needed are coordinated for me.
  • If I lose track of my appointments or what I should be doing to look after my health, the practice has a system in place to help me.
  • I am empowered to make better-informed healthcare decisions.
  • I achieve healthier outcomes collaboratively with the care of the whole team.
  • I have an improved relationship with my general practitioner and the rest of my care team.
  • I receive help from my care team to navigate the healthcare system

Reference

  1. Oregon Health Authority. Patient-centred primary care homes [Internet]. Salem: Oregon Health Authority; 2014 [cited March 2017]. Available from: http://www.oregon.gov/oha/pcpch/Documents/PatientFactSheet.pdf