Utilizing Medical Homes to Create a Patient-Centered Approach to Managing Chronic Conditions, an audio conference on CD-ROM, examines the concept of the "medical home," and how the use of medical homes is improving the coordination of chronic care.

Listen to some pre-conference comments from our audio conference presenters.

The coordination of care through a medical home can result in better health and lower overall costs of care on both the individual and population levels, and can reduce healthcare disparities. While the use of medical homes was pioneered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which advocated a medical home for every child, especially those with special healthcare needs, starting in the 1960s, the use of medical homes to manage chronic conditions is a growing trend in the industry.

Congressional action this past December is further strengthening the concept of a patient-centered medical home. The Medicare Medical Home Demonstration, authorized in the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 and set to be launched in eight states, will provide physicians who participate in the program with a "care coordination fee" for managing the care of patients with multiple chronic conditions, and will provide them with the ability to share in system-wide savings that may result.

During Utilizing Medical Homes to Create a Patient-Centered Approach to Managing Chronic Conditions, a 90-minute audio conference on CD-ROM, industry experts Anne Hernandez, director of operations of APS Healthcare, Elizabeth Reardon, consultant, Commonwealth Medicine and Dr. George Rust, senior consultant for APS Healthcare and Interim Director of the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, shared strategies on building an effective medical home project and the impact these programs can have on patient outcomes and satisfaction.

You will get details on how to:

• Recruit primary care physicians to participate in medical home projects;
• Provide consumers with patient self-management tools and resources to make the most of their medical home;
• Create a physician reimbursement and incentive structure to maximize medical home results;
• Target and engage patients who would benefit from a medical home;
• Support self-management in low-income populations; and
• Develop relationships with community resources to address needs that can be met through community-based services.

PRE-CONFERENCE COMMENTS FROM OUR PRESENTERS:

Elizabeth Reardon, a consultant with Commonwealth Medicine, says that healthcare organizations can draw parallels from Ed Wagner's chronic care model and build upon it to address the needs of patients and families in a medical home:

The medical home has long been stressed in physician residency training, says Dr. George Rust, senior consultant for APS Healthcare and interim director of the National Center for Primary Care, and deserves credit for improving health outcomes for patients with a central point of care:

Here's what participants said about the conference:

This conference was very useful for showing the value of advanced medical homes in the primary care setting and useful anecdotes of strategies to implement in our office settings", said Kevin Taylor, medical director with Huron Valley Physician Association.

WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS AUDIO CONFERENCE?

CEOs, medical directors, disease management directors, managers and coordinators, health plan executives, care management nurses, business development and strategic planning directors.

Available in three formats

• CD-ROM for computer play
• CD-ROM for stereo play
• On Demand version accessible online

Please note the stereo version ships as two CD-ROMs, whereas the .mp3 version ships as one CD-ROM.

ABOUT OUR PANELISTS:

Anne Hernandez

Anne Hernandez, LCSW, is the operations director of APS Healthcare, Georgia. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the Georgia Disease Management Programs. During her eight year tenure with APS Healthcare, Hernandez has been involved in a number of other program implementations including work in Florida and Alaska.

Prior to coming to APS, Hernandez worked for Fulton County Community Services Board as a behavioral health program manager and for Cobb/Douglas Community Services Board as clinical coordinator. While residing in Mississippi, she was employed with the Mississippi State Department of Mental Health both for the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Division of Developmental Disabilities. Hernandez has worked at the state-level with planning/evaluation and at the service level in both clinical and managerial positions. She continues to provide training to a variety of audiences on a contractual basis.

Hernandez is a licensed clinical social worker and holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Alabama. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi.

Elizabeth Reardon

Liz Reardon is a consultant with the Office of Community Programs, Commonwealth Medicine, a division of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. From 1997-2007, she was the managed care director for the Office of Vermont Health Access, where she directed three statewide initiatives funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to link systems and supports for primary and long-term care provided to low-income Vermonters with chronic conditions or disabilities.

Prior to joining the State, she served as the director of quality and risk management at Rutland Mental Health Services in Rutland, Vt., and coordinated strategic planning and quality improvement activities for the Behavioral Health Network of Vermont, a managed care provider organization. She also held positions at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital as assistant administrator for pediatrics, OB/GYN, rehabilitation, and special care units, and as quality assurance administrator for psychiatry, prison health, and AIDS services.

Reardon has consulted with a number of behavioral health organizations, managed care companies and Vermont state agencies regarding the planning and implementation of quality management systems, and was a three-term member of the National Editorial Board of the Journal for Healthcare Quality. In July 2000, she was appointed by Governor Howard Dean to the Commission on the Treatment of Psychological Trauma, and facilitated the task force that incorporated the Commission’s findings into the Agency of Human Services programs and operations.

Reardon has a Master of Public Health from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University.

Dr. George Rust

Dr. George Rust is a Professor of Family Medicine and Interim Director of the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, previously serving as Deputy Director of the Center under former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher. Dr. Rust is also a senior consultant for APS Healthcare.

Before coming to Morehouse in 1991, he served for six years as medical director of a community & migrant health center in Central Florida. Dr. Rust is known for his expertise in health professions workforce diversity, in cultural competence, and in the delivery of primary healthcare to underserved populations.

Dr. Rust trained at Loyola University and Cook County Hospital, is board-certified in both Family Practice and Preventive Medicine, and in 1994 was named Family Practice Educator of the Year by the Georgia Academy of Family Physicians.