Medical Homes, Regular Care Linked
Having a medical home or its style of delivery is linked to receiving higher rates of ongoing preventative care, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.
The study by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research concluded that those individuals ensconced in medical homes were more than twice as likely to have regular medical visits, obtain flu shots and reap other benefits from having a personal doctor, an individual treatment plan and coordinated care – the keystone features of a medical home.
The study focused on these three features of care delivery rather than placement in a medical home specifically.
Californians with at least one chronic healthcare condition were scrutinized for the study, with data gleaned from the 2009 results of the California Health Interview Survey. It included interviews with more than 50,000 state residents.
“Seeing the same doctor over time builds familiarity, trust and confidence for both provider and patient,” said Nadereh Pourat, the UCLA center's director of research and the study's lead author. “And if that doctor takes a coordinated approach to their patients' care, there seems to be a big payoff in terms of better health for their patients.”
However, there are significant gaps in medical home placement based on racial demographics.
Among caucasians with chronic conditions, 56% reported receiving care that meets the guidelines for being enrolled in a patient-centered medical home. That compares to 45% of Latinos and 42% of Asian-Americans surveyed meeting those conditions. And 10% of the Latinos surveyed said the care they received did not meet any of the three medical home criteria.
Moreover, there was also a significant gap of receiving medical home-style care depending on one's insurance coverage. Those with group or individual policies or enrolled in Medicare were more likely to receive this kind of care compared to Medi-Cal enrollees, as are those who regularly receive their care in community clinics rather than doctor's offices.
