Is the Disease Management Care Blog worried about the prognosis of the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH)? Not in the least.
It's simply marching from its "Peak of Inflated Expectations" through the "Trough of Disillusionment." Before you decide to short the PCMH, check out this very enlightening Bloomberg editorial, Lure More Doctors Into Primary Care With 'Medical Homes.'
Noting that many commercial insurers remain committed to the medical home model of care, Bloomberg's business-savvy editorial board also points out that the PCMH has the added quality of attracting physicians to careers in primary care. The Josia Macy Jr. Foundation has some preliminary data suggesting that experience in medical home settings increases medical students' enthusiasm for primary care.
It's a timely article. While prattling pinheads of pessimism (examples here and here) glom onto imperfect research methodologies and findings that are unequal to the task at hand, top notch organizations like Sutter, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield are going long on the PCMH.
These guys know something that the academics are missing.
Too bad there isn't a PCMH futures market; the DMCB could make some serious money.
Image from Wikipedia
