New Model of Family Medicine
Family medicine will redesign the work and workplaces of family physicians. This redesign will foster a New Model of Care based on the concept of a relationship-centered personal medical home, which serves as the focal point through which all individuals — regardless of age, gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status participate in health care. In this new medical home, patients receive a basket of services of acute, chronic, and preventive medical care services that are accessible, accountable, comprehensive, integrated, patient-centered, safe, scientifically valid, and satisfying to both patients and their physicians. This New Model will include technologies that enhance diagnosis and treatment for a large portion of problems that people bring to their family physicians. Business plans and reimbursement models will be developed to enable the reengineered practices of family physicians to thrive as personal medical homes, and resources will be developed to help patients make informed decisions about choosing a personal medical home. A financially self-sustaining national resource will be implemented to provide practices with ongoing support in transitioning to the New Model of Family Medicine.
Implementation Update (January 2005): Task Force Six was formed to develop financial models based on the New Model theory to determine if it would be financially viable for family physicians. The report of Task Force Six, recently published in the 2004 November/December Annals of Family Medicine, indicates that family physicians can utilize the New Model of Care under the current fee for service system to increase compensation by 26%. In addition, the modeling suggest that if every American used a primary care physician as their usual source of care, health care costs would likely decrease by 5.6%, resulting in a national savings of $67 billion dollars per year. FFM recommendations called for the development of a national entity to assist family physicians in the transition to the New Model of Care. The AAFP Board of Directors approved a business plan in November of 2004 to develop the New Model of Care Practice Resource Center. The first phase of the Center will be to develop and manage a National Demonstration Project which will help up to 20 practices transition to the New Model. You can learn more from the 12.02.04 AAFP press release.