Sustaining medical home transformation is equally as important as the transformation process itself.
Something that is “sustainable” is defined as being able to continue for a long time without depleting all available resources. In a pediatric practice this can include:
- Financial resources (eg, being able to continue medical home activities after funding for the transformation process ends; securing new financial resources)
- Human resources (eg, avoiding staff and/or clinician burn out; making sure that one person is not doing all the work; orienting new staff to the medical home)
- Material resources (eg, continuous distribution of educational materials and information to patients and families)
Fundamental Principles of Medical Home Sustainability
- Creation of a well-developed, clear vision for medical home transformation, implementation, and sustainability. Communication about this vision to the entire practice team
- Presence of written, formal processes and protocols related to specific medical home activities enacted before or during the transformation process
- Clear and regular communication of processes and protocols to all staff, clinicians, families/caregivers, and patients
- Clear and regular communication about the practice’s progress towards transforming into a medical home to all staff, clinicians, families/caregivers, and patients
- Ongoing collection and analysis of data related to a practice’s transformation processes. This data can be used to justify sustaining a patient-centered medical home
- Active workforce buy-in and engagement in the patient-centered medical home concept
- Adequate payment for activities conducted and services offered through a patient-centered medical home
- Continuous investigation of current events and policies specific to medical home implementation which could improve health care delivery as well as patient, and clinician experiences
Tools and Resources
Selling Quality to Management: How to Get Management Buy-In to New Quality Initiatives
Provides strategies to encourage engagement and buy-in from executive and managerial staff.
Strategies for Achieving Whole-Practice Engagement and Buy-in to the Patient-Centered Medical Home
Includes strategies for obtaining organizational buy-in and whole-staff engagement.
Tips for Sustaining the Success of a Quality Improvement Project
Provides four tips for pediatric practices to assist with sustainability of quality improvement projects, such as medical home implementation.
Bright Futures and Preventive Medicine Resource
Provides a comprehensive listing of preventive medicine service codes frequently used in pediatric medical homes.
EQIPP: Medical Home
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers an EQIPP course, Medical Home, which guides users through the detailed quality improvement process necessary to undergo the pediatric medical home transformation.
Last Updated
06/21/2022
Source
American Academy of Pediatrics