Kris B. Mamula made this big announcement in the Pittsburgh Business Times on Wednesday:
The region’s biggest independent pediatric medical practice has been certified as a patient-centered care provider by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
Carnegie-based Pediatric Alliance P.C. was recognized for implementing a model of care that combines a team approach to patient care with information technology to improve the patient’s experience and reduce health care costs. In patient-centered medical homes, each patient is overseen by a clinician-led care team that coordinates treatment throughout the health care system, eliminating duplicative testing while improving care.
Research has shown that medical homes foster higher quality care and lower costs. NCQA is a private, nonprofit agency based in Washington D.C., and Pediatric Alliance has 14 offices in the region.
So what is a medical home? From our website:
A medical home is a way to provide high quality health care services that best meet the needs of your child and your family. It is not a building, house or hospital. It is a partnership between you and your family and your primary care doctor, nurse and staff. Together, we make sure that the healthcare needs of your child are met.
The concept of the medical home is not new. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics proposed the idea almost 50 years ago! Then, improving the quality of care for children with special health care needs was the impetus for the plan. Today, while we continue to stay laser-focused on children with special needs, Pediatric Alliance’s patient-centered medical home is inclusive of all our patients and families.
The purpose of us creating a medical home for your child and family — and of you becoming an integral part of this medical home — is to build a partnership with your child, you (parents and guardians), and the providers and staff that make up the medical team. At the heart of the concept is our role in the “coordination of care” across all aspects of health care to help patients and families understand and better manage all available health care services. The AAP puts all the pieces together:
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) developed the medical home model for delivering primary care that is accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate, and culturally effective to all children and youth, including children and youth with special health care needs.
Getting to this day of the big announcement took a great deal of work (and some blood, sweat, and tears), dedication, and grit by so many people who work for Pediatric Alliance. Our robust electronic medical record system paved our way as we jumped through every clinical, technological, and regulatory hoop to attain the status of patient-centered medical home. This achievement was truly a team effort!
So now we’ve made it. We had a devotion to a dream and that dream has now become a reality. We are now partners in care! Through an arduous and, at times, frustrating process that has taken us nearly three years, we have earned the honor, finally, to say that we are “Your Home for Quality Pediatric Care!”