Last week, the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions released a new report, titled “Medical Home 2.0: The Present, The Future,” that highlights how health IT is a key front-end investment for organizations participating in the patient-centered medical home initiative under the federal health reform law, Healthcare IT News reports.
The report includes a review of several PCMH pilots and offers insight on the future of the medical home model. It also discusses the expansion of medical home pilots under the health reform law as a strategy to lower costs and improve quality of care through the adoption of health IT, care teams and evidence-based medical guidelines.
The report found that:
Although organizations initially would have to make significant investments to participate in PCMHs because of fixed technology costs, patient outcomes eventually would improve, which could help offset implementation costs;
There are challenges in convincing physicians to adopt health IT, particularly in medical home models that require a willingness to use health IT in diagnostics, treatment planning and routine patient interaction;
Some organizations might require assistance with IT purchase and implementation; and
An impending shortage of primary care physicians would increase the need and dependence on telemedicine and other electronic doctor visits to bolster the practice of primary care medicine (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 9/16).
