Patients First Health Care Recognized by NCQA
Receives Medical Home Level 3 Designation

WASHINGTON, Mo., July 25, 2011 - Patients First Health Care in Washington, Mo. announces its Patient-Centered Medical Home Level 3 recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality.

Medical Home, a new concept in health care, is where a primary care provider and his/her team coordinate care throughout a patient’s life. This includes well-checks, age-appropriate screenings, disease management and prevention, and access to a team of specialists.

Level 3 designation signifies that Patients First Health Care in Washington has both the approach and technology tools, including NextGen and NextMD, to help patients receive high- quality, coordinated and cost-effective care.

“The benefit of Patient-Centered Medical Home to our patients is greater patient satisfaction, improved health outcomes and better value for patients’ health care dollar,” said Robert W. Halsted, MD, Medical Director, Patients First Health Care. “Our Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatric teams in Washington are partners in patients’ overall health and wellness. Keeping people healthy throughout their lifecycle, includes using technology, reminders and even incentives to keep people on a responsible path to meeting their health care obligations.”

Patients’ perspectives:

“With having a complex set of health issues, I like having a centralized team led by my primary care physician with the skills to take care of me and help me navigate the changes in health care. My physician truly cares for me, I’m not just a number,” said Mary Jo Yegge.

“My husband and I appreciate that our primary care physician partners with us in keeping us healthy. Electronic medical records enhance our care, and I’ve even used NextMD to view test results,” said Marlene Altemueller.

“It’s priceless to have a primary care physician and his team that are so responsive to my health care needs. I’ve used the Patients First Urgent Care facility over a weekend and I was confident that my primary care physician could view the results of my visit through electronic medical records when he returned to the office on Monday,” said Laura Lawson.

More than 2300 Patient-Centered Medical Home programs are currently active in nearly every state in the U.S. Typically, Medical Home is funded through care management fees assessed by third-party insurance payers such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna or United Healthcare. However, Patients First Health Care has invested its own capital in providing Medical Home for its patients.

NCQA has recently revised its Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition program. The new standards are more patient-centered with a significant emphasis on the planning, managing and coordinating care for patients. The new standards have a greater emphasis on continuous quality improvement in primary care practices, and align with Federal initiatives of Meaningful Use.

The Level 3 designation, the highest level for Medical Home, is a first for Patients First Health Care. As part of Patients First Health Care’s performance improvement program, the company plans to apply for Medical Home recognition in 2011-2012 for its other primary care locations, including Bourbon, Creve Coeur, Cuba, Eureka, Hermann, Marthasville, New Haven, Owensville, Pacific, St. Clair, Steelville, Sullivan, Sunset Hills, Union, and Warrenton.

Patients can use the Find a Physician button on the Patients First Health Care Web site at www.PatientsFirstHC.com or call toll-free (855) 749-6841 to select a primary care provider and team to meet their needs.