At the Spanish Catholic Center health clinics in the Washington area, patients can access one-stop shopping for their chronic medical care.

The health clinics have on-site laboratories and pharmacies so patients can come in for an exam, have blood work performed, and pick up their medicine in a single visit. This type of access, which is especially appealing for the clinic's mostly uninsured population, is one way that the organization strives to provide a “medical home” to its patients, said Dr. Anna Maria Izquierdo-Porrera, an internist who serves as medical director of the Spanish Catholic Center.

“A medical home improves the quality of service that you receive, and whether you're insured or not, there are ways that we can look at how we deliver care [in order] to improve,” Dr. Izquierdo-Porrera said during a press briefing sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund. “It needs to be in a place where the patient trusts you and will come back.”

This approach has been yielding positive results in diabetes control. Physicians at the Spanish Catholic Center have seen a drop in the number of diabetes patients with poor control (hemoglobin A_1c levels greater than 9%) and an increase in the number of patients with good control (HbA_1c levels less than 7%). From 2003 to 2005, the percentage of diabetes patients with poor control fell from 29.6% to 13.7%, and the percentage of those with good control rose from 29.6% to 46.3%, she said.

And now researchers are finding that having access to a medical home makes patients less likely to experience health disparities. In a report released in June, researchers at the Commonwealth Fund said that having a regular provider or place of care that is accessible after hours and is efficiently run can improve the quality of both preventive and chronic care.

The findings are based on a 2006 survey of 2,837 adults aged 18–64 years. The national sample was designed to target black, Hispanic, and Asian households, and specifically excluded adults aged 65 and older who are eligible to receive Medicare coverage.

The survey found that overall health disparities persist. However, according to the report, strategies such as providing patients with a medical home and increasing health insurance coverage can reduce or even eliminate disparities.

The researchers defined a medical home as a regular provider or source of care that is accessible both during the day and on evenings and weekends. The setting should also be well organized and efficiently run. Only 27% of the respondents reported having a place of care meeting that definition, Dr. Anne Beal, the lead study author and a pediatrician, said during the press briefing.

The uninsured are the least likely to have access to a medical home, the researchers found. About 16% of uninsured respondents receive their care through a medical home, whereas 45% do not have a regular source of care.

In analyzing the impact of the medical home, the researchers found that having a regular place of care really does matter. Nearly three-quarters of adults with a medical home report being able to get the care they need when they need it, compared with 52% of those with a regular provider that is not a medical home. Only 38% of adults without any regular source of care say they can get the care they need when they need it.

And when patients had a medical home, there were no disparities in access to care based on race, Dr. Beal said. Among patients who had a medical home, the same percentage of whites, blacks, and Hispanics—nearly 75%—reported that they always get care when they need it. In addition, about 65% of patients with a medical home, regardless of race, reported receiving reminders for preventive care visits.

“Whenever a patient said that they were in a medical home, we found that there were no disparities in the quality of care that they received,” Dr. Beal said.

The medical home is also important in terms of providing chronic care, the researchers said. The survey found that adults with a medical home were more likely to have a plan to manage their chronic health conditions at home, compared with those without a regular source of care. For example, among adults with hypertension, 42% of those with a medical home reported that they regularly check their blood pressure and that it is well controlled. In contrast, only 25% of individuals with a regular source of care that is not a medical home reported regularly checking their blood pressure and keeping it under control.

The Commonwealth Fund report calls on all providers to take steps to create medical homes for patients, especially among safety net providers.

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In a medical home everyone has the same access to care, said Dr. Izquierdo-Porrera. John Troha/Redux Plus

Medical Home Improves Quality of Care for Uninsured