Diabetes and the patient-centered medical home

Should you choose to adopt the PCMH, you need to recognize that there will be early adopters and there will be skeptics and it will most likely require a culture change for your organization. Starting small with a targeted population, such as diabetes, is helpful in allowing everyone an opportunity to test this change before implementing it with all patients. You will likely struggle with IT and you can expect confusion as to how the PCMH and care coordination fit with the day-to-day work flow. And, everyone will struggle with staff turnover at some point. This will make it especially necessary to maintain organizational memory of the process. In summary, the core concepts of the PCMH have demonstrated results. However, to get there, leadership support for not only the concept but also for the work is essential. Although the application and certification are important, the real results come from embedding the principles in your standard operating procedures. The PCMH becomes the way you do your work.