Laying the Foundation: Factors Associated With Medical Home Recognition Among Health Centers

The characteristics associated with medical home recognition among federally qualified health centers were explored. The results will help guide the transformation of health centers and other providers to the medical home model of practice.

This study included the universe of 1,198 federally qualified health centers in calendar year 2012; the data were collected in 2013 and analyzed in 2014-2015. Using the 2012 Uniform Data System, descriptive statistics were calculated and differences in means of health center characteristics by third-party medical home recognition status were tested. Multivariable logistic regression models examined correlates of recognition.

In 2012, 17.3% of health centers had third-party medical home recognition. Health centers in the Northeast had more than three times the odds of being recognized as medical homes, compared with health centers located in the South (OR=3.3, p<0.001). Health centers with medical home recognition were larger and had higher odds of having electronic health records in all sites (OR=3.08, p<0.001). Recognized health centers had a higher percentage of total staffing composed of behavioral health specialists, compared with health centers that had not attained medical home recognition in 2012 (OR=1.06, p<0.001).

These findings highlight the importance of monitoring which types of health centers are falling behind, encouraging the adoption of health information technology, and enabling the recruitment of onsite behavioral health staffing.