A majority of medical practices are lagging behind in face of the recent reforms in the United States healthcare sector. In fact, many people, both the medical professionals as well as their patients, can attest to feeling overwhelmed by these reforms and the inefficiencies they have brought about. Primary care is one of the biggest transformations currently taking place in healthcare. Helping to direct this transformation is a team of researchers lead by Dr. Edward H. Wagner, who have proposed a model for transforming primary care as well as improving efficiency and effectiveness in the health care system. This model, referred to as the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), embraces practice principles taken from the Chronic Care Model and the Pediatric Model (Wagner, 2012). PCMH model contains what is referred to as eight key “change concepts” that are essential for transforming a medical practice into a medical home. These change concepts are first introduced in the article “Guiding Transformation: How Medical Practices Can Become Patient-Centered Medical Homes” written by Edward H. Wagner, Katie Coleman, Robert J. Reid, Kathryn Phillips, and Jonathan R. Sugarman. Accordingly, I will be providing a critique of this article, as well as providing an assessment of the change concepts underlying PCMH.
The article’s review of literature highlights the need for a robust primary care sector that can reduce health care costs and significantly improve care. In light of the Affordable Care Act, which emphasizes improved access to care while keeping costs low (Sultz, 2014, p.54), the challenge of balancing cost and quality service at the primary care level is a growing concern. In fact, the Affordable Care Act has a direct impact on the delivery of primary care, since an increasing number of people insured under this reform will lead to an increased number of patients