Livermore Falls Family Practice Earns National Recognition for Patient-centered Care

Standards emphasize enhanced care through patient-clinician partnership

 

FARMINGTON, MAINE¾

 

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announces that Franklin Health Livermore Falls Family Practice has received recognition from the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011 (PCMH 2011) program for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated and long‐term care. The practice received Level 3, the highest status.

 

The PCMH model designates a primary nurse-provider team that coordinates patient care across a continuum of settings ranging from the primary care office to specialty clinics to inpatient areas. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology, health information exchange, and other means to assure that patients receive the indicated care when and where they need it, and communicated in a way that they understand.

 

The PCMH model demonstrates the benchmarks of patient-centered care, including same day appointments as needed, expanded hours, 24/7 access to a provider, and appropriate use of proven health information systems. According to the NCQA, research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and improve patients’ and providers’ reported experiences of care.

 

“The patient-centered medical home raises the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and partnerships between clinicians and patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. PCMH Recognition shows that Franklin Health Livermore Falls Family Practice has the tools, systems and resources to provide their patients with the right care at the right time.”

 

To receive recognition, which is valid for three years, the medical practice demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements embodying characteristics of the medical home including:

·         Written standards for patient access and continuity of care;

·         Use of patient feedback materials;

·         Appropriate use of charting tools to track patients and organize clinical information;

• Responsive care management techniques with an emphasis on preventive care for individual patients and for the entire patient population;
• Adaptation to patient’s cultural and linguistic needs;
• Use of information technology for prescriptions, test and referral tracking and coordination with other health care providers;
• Use of evidence-based guidelines to treat chronic conditions; and
• Measurement and reporting of clinical and service performance.

 

“There are three levels of NCQA PCMH recognition and each level reflects the degree to which a practice meets the requirements that comprise the standards,” said Mavis Dubord, Franklin Health director of clinical and administrative services. “We are very proud of all the work that our clinicians and staff did, along with information technology staff who worked behind the scenes in achieving this highest level of recognition. This achievement demonstrates their level of commitment to excellence for our patients.”

Franklin Health Livermore Falls Family Practice offers a full range of family medicine services from routine physicals to managing complex medical conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Its providers include Mary Dunlap, FNP; Heidi Decker, MD; and James Smith, DO.

 

Livermore Falls Family Practice is conveniently located in the Androscoggin Valley Medical Arts Center on Main Street in Livermore Falls. For more information or to make an appointment, call 897-6601.