Pediatric Health Care Alliance, P.A. is proud to announce that all of our practice locations have been awarded national recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) under the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program.

The PCMH program identifies practices that promote partnerships between individual patients and their personal clinicians. It was developed to assess whether clinician practices are functioning as medical homes and recognize them for these efforts. Program standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement, enhancing the patient-clinician partnership. 

Medical home clinicians demonstrate the benchmarks of patient-centered care, including open scheduling, expanded hours, and appropriate use of proven health information systems. Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs.

All Pediatric Health Care Alliance, P.A. practice locations met key program components in the following areas:

• Written standards for patient access and continuity of care.
• Use of patient feedback materials.
• Appropriate use of charting tools to track patients and organize clinical information.
• Responsive care management techniques with an emphasis on preventative care for individual patients and for the entire patient population.
• Adaptation to patients’ cultural and linguistic needs.
• Use of information technology for prescriptions, text and referral tracking, and coordination with other health care providers.
• Use of evidence-based guidelines to treat chronic conditions.
• Measurement and reporting of clinical and service performance.

“NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition raises the bar in defining highquality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and coordinated care focused on patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Recognition shows that Pediatric Health Care Alliance has the tools, systems and resources to provide its patients with the right care, at the right time.” 

The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home program reflects the input of the American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and others.

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 is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers and researchers.