Nationwide Children’s Hospital has received NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long-term, participative relationships the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced. Nationwide Children’s achieved Level 3 standards, the highest level of achievement issued by the NCQA.
The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home is a model of primary care that combines teamwork and information technology to improve care, improve patients’ experience of care and reduce costs. Medical homes foster ongoing partnerships between patients and their personal clinicians, instead of approaching care as the sum of episodic office visits. Each patient’s care is overseen by clinician-led care teams that coordinate treatment across the health care system. Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and can improve patient and provider reported experiences of care.
“NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition raises the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and coordinated care focused on patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Recognition shows that Nationwide Children’s Hospital has the tools, systems and resources to provide its patients with the right care, at the right time.”
To earn recognition, which is valid for three years, Nationwide Children’s Hospital demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements, embodying characteristics of the medical home. NCQA standards aligned with the joint principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home established with the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Osteopathic Association.
“Achieving Level Three recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance is a testament to the continued best practices our physicians, nurses and staff within the Primary Care Network provide to our patients and patient families daily,” said Olivia Thomas, MD, section chief of Ambulatory Pediatrics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “At the heart of our mission is patient and family centered care because we know that family members have indispensable roles in the care of their children.”
Nationwide Children’s 11 Primary Care Centers offer community-based physician services for children (ages birth to 21) to help keep children healthy with regular physical exams, vision, hearing, developmental checks and immunizations against childhood diseases. Nationwide Children’s is one of the largest hospital-owned primary care networks in any children’s hospital. To learn more about Nationwide Children’s Primary Care Centers and providers, visit nationwidechildrens.org/primary-care-centers.
To find clinicians and their practices with NCQA PCMH Recognition, visit http://recognition.ncqa.org. For further information, contact NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585.
About Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Ranked 7th of only 10 children's hospitals on U.S. News & World Report’s 2014-15 “America’s Best Children’s Hospitals Honor Roll,” Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit freestanding pediatric healthcare networks providing wellness, preventive, diagnostic, treatment and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents, as well as adult patients with congenital disease. Nationwide Children’s, also ranked among the Top 10 on Parents magazine’s 2013 “Best Children’s Hospitals” list, has a medical staff of 1,100 and nearly 10,000 employees providing state-of-the-art pediatric care for one million patient visits annually. As home to the Department of Pediatrics of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Nationwide Children’s physicians train the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric specialists. The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital is one of the Top 10 National Institutes of Health-funded freestanding pediatric research facilities. Nationwide Children’s remains true to the original mission since its founding in 1892 of providing care regardless of a family’s ability to pay. More information is available at NationwideChildrens.org.
About NCQA
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers and researchers.