L.A. Care launches patient-centered medical home pilot

L.A. Care Health Plan has launched a two-year pilot program designed to transform 11 California healthcare practices into patient centered medical homes.

The nation’s largest public health plan has approved $600,000 in funding for the pilot, which will provide technical assistance and evaluation for the practices.

A PCMH is designed to replace episodic care with patient-centered coordinated care provided by a physician-led healthcare team, coordinating care across settings and useing electronic health records to improve quality of care and patient outcomes. The PCMH model establishes that each patient has close, ongoing contact and access with a primary care doctor and team for continuing care.

The 11 PCMH practices will serve approximately 85,000 patients. They are:

• Antelope Valley Community Clinic in Lancaster;
• Community Health Alliance of Pasadena;
• El Proyecto del Barrio in Winnetka;
• South Bay Family Health Center in Redondo Beach;
• The Children's Clinic in Long Beach;
• Watts Healthcare in South Los Angeles;
• Clinica Familiar De Los Latinos in Maywood;
• Kids and Teens Medical Group in Van Nuys;
• A Diop Family Care Medical Group in Inglewood;
• USC Family Medicine Clinic at California Hospital in Los Angeles; and
• Family Care Specialists Medical Group in Echo Park, Los Angeles.

"L.A. Care is committed to helping small practices and safety net clinics, which serve the majority of Americans, redesign how they deliver care to achieve better outcomes, higher patient satisfaction and more efficient use of resources,” said Elaine Batchlor, chief medical officer at L.A. Care Health Plan. “Early adopters of the PCMH model are mainly large medical groups or integrated delivery systems, which represent less than 10 percent of the physician practices in the nation.”

L.A. Care is working with Qualis Health, a non-profit healthcare consulting organization with expertise in PCMH transformation consulting. Qualis Health will conduct baseline assessments, support redesigning workflow processes and provide technical assistance to participating practices, including approximately 70 physicians, nurses and other clinic staff members.

“These clinics and private practices will receive one-on-one assistance and support to learn a new way of doing business,” said Alexander Li, medical director at L.A. Care Health Plan. “We’re asking them to adopt health information technology, use evidence-based guidelines and improve communication with their patients, all with the ultimate goal of achieving better health outcomes.”

L.A. Care officials assessed practices’ readiness to engage and invest in PCMH activities, commit to implementing health IT and redesign their workflows to improve access and coordinated care. Clinics and private practices were also selected based on their willingness to serve vulnerable populations, including seniors and people with disabilities, and their financial stability to maintain the PCMH model.

The PCMH pilot aligns with HITEC-LA, a project of L.A. Care Health Plan, which helps healthcare providers implement and use EHRs in a meaningful way in order to improve clinical patients’ outcomes. HITEC-LA is the exclusive, federally-designated Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center for Los Angeles County.