Group Health’s Home Care Initiative Pays Off

A study in the May issue of Health Affairs give kudos to Group Health Cooperative‘s new patient-centered medical home initiative. The medical home approach, described in Seattle Business Magazine’s July 2009 issue, is an effort to provide patients more time with their doctors. Group Health’s Dr. James Bergman was recognized in Seattle Business Magazine’s April issue as a “Leader in Health Care” for his role in promoting the medical home.

A medical home is like an old-fashioned family doctor who really knows you as a person, explained evaluation leader Robert J. Reid, MD, PhD, an associate investigator at Group Health Research Institute and Group Health’s associate medical director for preventive care. The fresh twist is that the doctor leads a team of professionals. And the team makes the most of current knowledge and technologyincluding e-mail and electronic health recordsto deliver first-rate primary care and reach out to help patients stay healthy.

Among the results of the study were the following:

• The quality of care was higher, patients reported having better experiences, and clinicians said they felt less burned out.
• Patients had 29 percent fewer emergency visits and 6 percent fewer hospitalizations, resulting in a net savings of $10 per patient per month.
• For every dollar Group Health invested, mostly to boost staffing, it recouped $1.50.

More efforts like this are necessary if our medical system is to continue improving health care services even as we are pressured to reduce costs.