At Neighborhood Health Center, we are working toward health equity. One of the ways we are doing that is through our approach to healthcare. Neighborhood has earned the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition. This means we follow the PCMH model for delivering high-quality, cost-effective primary care, using a patient-centered and culturally appropriate team-based approach to coordinate patient care across the health system.

This model has been associated with effective chronic disease management, increased patient and provider satisfaction, cost savings, improved quality of care, and increased preventive care.

“The PCMH health care delivery model is considered a promising approach to delivering high-quality, cost-effective primary care, and this falls well in line with Neighborhood’s mission, vision and values,” explains Frank Smith, Director of Quality at Neighborhood Health Center.

Originally designed to manage the care of children with chronic illnesses, the PCMH model has been associated with effective chronic disease management, increased patient and provider satisfaction, cost savings, improved quality of care, and increased preventive care.

The term “medical home” describes practices that work with public and private payers to treat all patient populations. Practices identified as “health homes” or “behavioral health homes” work exclusively with Medicaid patients suffering from chronic or behavioral health issues and mental health conditions. In addition to offering comprehensive primary care services, health homes also coordinate inpatient to outpatient care. Both medical and health homes may directly offer and coordinate behavioral health services for their patients.

As Western New York’s largest and longest-serving Federally Qualified Health Center, we are pleased to be recognized as a PCMH organization as we continue our work toward health equity with high-quality, cost-effective healthcare accessible to all.