The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced Wednesday that 51 primary care practice sites in the Hudson Valley have been recognized as Level 3 patient-centered medical homes – the highest level achievable.

The accomplishment was achieved by 236 physicians within 11 primary care practice groups (seven medical groups with multiple practice locations and four single site practices), and represents 44 percent of total Level 3 clinicians in New York, and nearly 10 percent of all practices at this level across the country.

These practices were supported in their transformation by the Taconic Independent Practice Association (TIPA), a nearly 4,000-member strong physician leadership organization that's focused on using technology and pay-for-performance incentives to transform medical practices and improve healthcare quality in the Hudson Valley. Physician practices were selected for the project based on their known commitment to quality improvement efforts in the past and their advanced, robust use of health IT.

Although NCQA Level 2 Recognition was the initial project goal, all 11 practices exceeded the goal to reach NCQA Level 3 status.

Three federally funded community health centers were among the Hudson Valley practices to achieve this recognition. The project included two solo practitioners and several small practices, demonstrating that physician practices of all sizes and types can become patient-centered medical homes.

"The Hudson Valley Initiative has really set the bar on a very strategic process to bring a large number of practices up to the state of the art of the medical home," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "We applaud their success and urge other communities just beginning the journey to look at this demonstrated success and learn from it."

The patient-centered medical home is an emerging model of care in which patients select a primary care practice to be their "medical home." Work flow at such practices is redesigned to emphasize a team-based approach to care, with new processes focusing on coordination of care, quality, safety and preventive care, and are supported by the use of health information technology tools such as electronic health records, electronic prescribing, an electronic patient registry and clinical decision support.

NCQA recognizes practices that have achieved medical home status through its Physician Practice Connections – Patient-Centered Medical Home program. NCQA offers three levels of recognition based on the program standards.

Over the course of the one-year project, the leadership of the selected practices met monthly as the Taconic IPA Medical Council to collaborate, share best practices and facilitate solutions. The medical home transformation project was managed by the Taconic Health Information Network and Community (THINC), the not-for-profit organization that convenes providers, payers, employers, public health agencies, quality organizations, consumers and local leaders to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of health care for the community.

Taconic IPA funded consulting services from TransforMED and Masspro to assist the practices as they worked to adopt more efficient, effective care delivery practices.

"This was a collaborative process, with Taconic IPA funding consulting and practice support resources, the THINC community managing the overall project and the practices themselves providing staff and resources to make the transformation," said A. John Blair III, MD, president of Taconic IPA. "Six health plans and IBM also promised incentive payments to the practices for meeting the project goals."

The practices that earned NCQA Level 3 recognition are listed on the following page.