Evaluating the tools used to assess the medical home.
OBJECTIVE
The patient-centered medical home is evolving as an approach to providing primary care. Primary care is defined by four main characteristics: comprehensive, coordinated, continuous, and accessible care, all of which are measurable. This analysis identifies tools for determining whether a patient-centered medical home achieves high level primary care.


METHODS
Instruments for measuring primary care were reviewed.


METHODS
Tools were reviewed for population coverage, format, testing of validity and reliability, and inclusion of the attributes of primary care.


RESULTS
Only one tool, the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT), scored highly on primary care features, as it was designed to assess both structural and process features of primary care and is available in multiple user formats.


CONCLUSIONS
Based on the evidence supporting the relationship between primary care, improved population health, and reduced health care costs, measurement of primary care transformation approaches such as the medical home can and should include specific measurement of the services associated with the four core attributes of primary care.
Malouin
Rebecca A
RA
Department of Family Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824, USA. rebecca.malouin@ht.msu.edu
Starfield
Barbara
B
Sepulveda
Martin Jose
MJ
D006801:Humans; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000592:standards*; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D014481:United States