Medical Homes Contributing to Decreasing Cost of Care

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) model of care seems to be contributing to decreases in costs and improvement in patient care, according to a report from the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative's annual report notes that steady progress has been made on reducing costs and the volume of expensive procedures. Twenty-one of 23 studies that measured change in cost reported reductions in one or more categories, while 23 of 25 studies that assessed hospital utilization rates reported reductions in one or more categories. However, although more than half of physician office visits each year are for primary care, it received only 4 to 7 percent of the $2.9 trillion spent by Americans on health care in 2013.

Go to top