"Medical Home"
“A health care setting that provides patients with
timely, well-organized care, and enhanced access to providers.”“When adults have health insurance coverage and a medical home,
racial and ethnic disparities in access and quality are reduced or
even eliminated. . . . [and] access to needed care, receipt of routine preventive screenings,
and management of chronic conditions improve substantially.“The Commonwealth Fund 2006 Health Care Quality Survey
Having a “medical home” is a critical part of individual, public and community health.
Those people who have insurance and a family physician (or OB or gerontologist or pediatrician for special primary car needs) that provides regular care have a “medical home.” They have someone who is an advocate for their care and someone who will coordinate any needed care beyond primary care.
For millions who are under or uninsured, however, their lack of a “medical home” is a real barrier to quality care—and their personal health and our community health. Without a medical home, people rely on a patchwork of different places, different providers, ERs, urgent care, community clinics, free clinics, etc. And the care suffers.
It’s an implicit part of the work and mission of most community health centers—and certainly that of South Bay Family Health Care—that we function as a “medical home” for thousands who have no regular source of medical care.
