Coming Home: The Patient-Centered Medical-Dental Home in Primary Care Training
Project Overview
Since 1998, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Advisory Committee on Training and Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry (ACTPCMD) has advised Congress and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues under the domain of Title VII, Section 747 programs. These programs include undergraduate- and graduate-level training of primary care providers, the recruitment of underrepresented minorities and disadvantaged populations, and the provision of quality health care to underserved communities.
Insight worked with ACTPCMD to develop a Report to Congress on the potential use and application of Primary Care Medical-Dental Homes (PCM-DHs) and corresponding recommendations on how Title VII programs can influence and support their development. This Report to Congress, ACTPCMD’s seventh, addressed how the PCM-DH model can serve as a critical tool in meeting the burgeoning national needs related to disease prevention and chronic disease treatment, health disparities and access to care, and improvement of overall quality of care.
Through presentations, white papers, and direct research, ACTPCMD focused on the current healthcare environment including issues of chronic illness, uninsured populations, health disparities, healthcare costs, and health outcomes. The report then addressed the PCM-DH model, including an analysis of the empirical data, cost-effectiveness, planned pilot studies, and challenges and barriers to their implementation. The report concluded by illustrating how Title VII, Section 747 could use this model to prepare the primary care training workforce to meet the needs of the nation.
ACTPCMD made nine recommendations for the Title VII, Section 747 programs to support primary care training and to prepare training programs to educate clinicians to practice in these medical and dental homes. The recommendations included guidelines for training, curricula development, leadership, pilot education programs, infrastructure, vulnerable and at-risk populations, infrastructure, coordination of medical and dental education, and the authority and funding for PCM-DH programs.
Products
Final report, Coming Home: The Patient-Centered Medical-Dental Home in Primary Care Training (December 2008)