New - Cost and Infrastructure among AHRQ’s Primary Care Transformation Study Areas

New - Cost and Infrastructure among AHRQ’s Primary Care Transformation Study Areas

AHRQ Studies Provide Insights into Primary Care Transformation

Materials synthesizing valuable insights and lessons learned from three AHRQ-funded grant initiatives on the transformation of primary care practices into patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) are now available on the AHRQ Web site: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-care/tpc/index.html.

These materials can be used by those considering primary care transformation and those who are interested in understand the primary care transformation process:

Transforming Primary Care Practice (TPC) grants evaluated the process that primary care practices undergo as they transform into PCMHs. Materials related to this grant initiative include short profiles summarizing each project, a journal supplement in the Annals of Family Medicine, an annotated bibliography of the more than 50 peer-reviewed articles resulting from this grant initiative, and a summary report synthesizing findings across the 14 grants.

Estimating the Costs of Supporting Primary Care Practice Transformation grants explored the costs of implementing and sustaining transformative primary care practice redesign, including the direct costs of primary care transformation, such as staff time and equipment, and indirect costs, such as overhead and forgone revenue. Many studies also estimated the costs of attaining and maintaining PCMH recognition. Materials developed for this grant initiative include short profiles summarizing each project and a practical guide for measuring the costs of primary care transformation.

Infrastructure for Maintaining Primary Care Transformation (IMPaCT) grants provided funding to State-level initiatives that provided a quality improvement infrastructure for primary care through primary care extension agents. Each of the four “model” IMPaCT States developed collaborations with three or four “partner” States to share the successful infrastructure they had developed. Materials developed for this grant initiative include short profilessummarizing key aspects of each project, success stories highlighting unique accomplishments of each grant in its partner States, and a summary report.

For more information about AHRQs Practice Improvement efforts visit the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research at http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-care/index.html.