Fayetteville Family Medical Center at UAMS Northwest Earns Highest Patient-Centered Status
| LITTLE ROCK — The Fayetteville Family Medical Center at UAMS Northwest has earned national recognition as a Level III patient-centered medical home, where health professionals work as a team to address patients’ immediate and long-term medical needs.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) awarded Level III, the highest level patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition, to the Fayetteville Family Medical Center after its Level III assessment.
Robert Gullett Jr., M.D., is the director of UAMS Northwest, a regional center of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)
“UAMS Northwest has always led the way in implementing the PCMH model,” said Mark Mengel, M.D., UAMS vice chancellor for regional programs. “A lot of credit goes to the collaborative style of Bob Gullett, its director, and his team’s passion and skill in implementing the many tasks associated with the PCMH model, and the residents’ and faculty’s willingness to support this change.”
The patient-centered medical home creates partnerships between individual patients, their physicians and the patient’s family. Care is facilitated by registries, information technology and health information exchange, so patients get the indicated care when and where they need and want it.
“Many thanks to our PCMH committee and our entire clinic staff for moving us toward a patient-centered primary care practice,” Gullett said. “It’s taken a great deal of work for many months and by many people. I especially want to thank Susan McWilliams, our PCMH coordinator, and Dr. Danny Proffitt for their help in leading our Center in this transformation. This achievement will help us improve our quality of care and lower costs, giving patients the kind of care they really want.”
In 2012, several of the regional family medical centers, including the Fayetteville center, earned Level II status. UAMS spent $6-$8 million to hire additional personnel and purchase information technology to better integrate patient care at the regional centers. New software was used to create a disease registry and standardize data entry for electronic medical records.
Although some additional investment was made in hardware and software at the Family Medical Center to get to Level III, much of the effort was directed at emphasizing culturally sensitive facets of care, meeting meaningful use criteria and integrating care management with behavioral health care, Gullett said.
With the patient-centered medical home model, more frequent communication takes place outside the exam room between each patient and each center’s physicians and staff. Between visits, more is done to monitor a patient’s condition and help the patient stay on a treatment plan.
“We have implemented and are implementing a wonderful system with PCMH,” Gullett said. “We can look to provide the patient care that patients need here in the office and even in referrals. In post hospital, we make telephone calls and even in-person visits with patients who have been discharged, so we can be sure they know how to take the medicines they received, know when to see us again and see if they have any problems.”
In addition to improving patient outcomes, the model promises to cut costs by reducing the need for hospitalization or emergency room care. According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, seven medical home demonstration projects at primary care practices reported a six percent to 40 percent reduction in hospitalizations, a seven percent to 29 percent decline in emergency room visits and a savings of $71-$640 per patient.
Nationally, about a quarter of the primary care practices have adopted the patient-centered medical home model.
Mengel said the other UAMS regional centers are on track to achieve Level III later this year.
The NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care. It has worked with leading national medical organizations like the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians to develop PCMH recognition standards.
UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.
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