Saint Barnabas Medical Center
Internal Medicine Faculty Practice

Patient-Centered Medical Home™ Recognition

The Internal Medicine Faculty Practice at Saint Barnabas Medical Center is nationally recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) as a Physician Practice Connections® - Patient-Centered Medical Home ™ (PPC®-PCMH™). In addition, the practice has achieved Level 3 Recognition, the highest level attainable under the PCMH program.

“Saint Barnabas is honored to be recognized for its commitment to patient-centered care,” said Ashish Parikh, M.D., FACP, Associate Program Director of the Internal Medicine Faculty Program and Director of the Internal Medicine Faculty Practice.  “As a recognized Patient-Centered Medical Home, the physicians associated with our practice develop an ongoing relationship with our patients and provide care coordination which emphasizes prevention and wellness.”

A PCMH is a physician office where health professionals work as a team to provide patients with care that is individually determined to meet their specific needs. Health team members strive to know their patients, as well as their preferences regarding care. The team also coordinates patient care with other health professionals. As such, the practice becomes its patients' "homes" for preventive, chronic, and ambulatory care. Under this approach to health, patients are important members of the team. They openly communicate with the health professionals and let the team know when they need more direction and explanation about their medical care.

PCMH standards emphasize the use of systemic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication, and patient involvement. Since the first quarter of 2009, the Internal Medicine Faculty Practice at Saint Barnabas has been participating in a project sponsored by the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians (NJAFP) and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to enhance the care patients receive on an ongoing basis. Part of this project included training and assistance in accumulating and submitting documentation to NCQA that allowed the organization to assess whether the practice was functioning as a medical home and to recognize them for these efforts.

Examples of the NCQA PPC-PCMH standards that The Internal Medicine Faculty Practice at Saint Barnabas had to meet include:

• having readily accessible, clinically useful information that enabled the health team to treat patients comprehensively
• maintaining continuous relationships with patients by implementing evidence-based guidelines and applying them to identified needs of individual patients
• collaborating with patients and their families to pursue goals for optimal achievable health
• seeking to reduce medical errors and improve efficiency

The NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health quality. Its PPC®-PCMHTM program reflects the input of the American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP),  American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and others in a revision of Physician Practice Connections® to assess whether physician practices are functioning as medical homes. Building on the joint principles developed by the primary care specialty societies, the PPC®-PCMH™ standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care management processes. There are nine PPC® standards, including 10 must pass elements, which can result in one of three levels of recognition.

Physician Practice Connections®- Patient Centered Medical Home™ (PPC®-PCMHTM) is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

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