HealthAmerica and Preferred Primary Care Physicians have launched a new pilot program aimed at providing more coordinated and patient-centered primary care and improved communications among patients, physicians and care teams.

Preferred consists of 32 board-certified physicians and five physician extenders specializing in internal medicine and family practice. It has 14 practice locations in the South Hills and three locations in Uniontown in Fayette County. In addition, Preferred offers state-of-the-art outpatient centers for cardiac testing, sleep disorders, and physical therapy.

The pilot program, which launched in September, leverages the advanced medical home model established by the American College of Physicians. The medical home is a team-based model of care led by a personal physician who provides continuous and coordinated care throughout a patient’s lifetime to maximize health outcomes. Care is facilitated by the patient’s personal physician across all elements of the complex health care system, including subspecialty care, hospitals, home health agencies and nursing homes.

“This arrangement is unique in that patients and families will participate in quality improvement activities at the practice level,” said Robert S. Mirsky, MD, chief medical officer for HealthAmerica. “HealthAmerica will play an important role because of the data we track on quality measures, which is critical for coordinating care and reporting on the results. Our data are also key to promoting the practice of evidence-based medicine and using decision-support tools to guide clinical decision making.”

“Under this pilot program, we will continue to leverage our advanced technologies and care management capabilities to support the goal of optimal patient outcomes,” said Gregory Erhard, executive director for Preferred Primary Care Physicians. “These are driven by a care-planning process and effective communication among HealthAmerica, the patient, the patient’s family and his or her physician. We will place a focus on prevention and seamless, coordinated care. Our electronic health record (EHR) and our robust data mining capabilities will be crucial in supporting optimal patient care, performance measurement, patient education, and communication.

This article was originally posted at http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/healthamerica-preferred-primary-care-physicians-partner-patient-centered-care-0