Medicare backs state medical home projects

The Department of Health and Human Services will join state multi-payer patient-centered medical home demonstration programs next year as a contributing payer.

The demonstrations will build on a model tested in Vermont for three years. Under the Vermont model, private insurers work with Medicaid to set uniform standards for medical homes, which emphasize prevention, health information technology, care coordination and shared decision making among patients and their providers.

In Vermont's model, physicians receive an incentive based on the number of active patients and a quality score from the nonprofit National Committee for Quality Assurance. Vermont physicians can earn as much as $2.39 per active patient per month in addition to their regular fee-for-service, according to the state's "Blueprint for Health" annual report.