Medicare Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice Demonstration (Medical Homes)

On October 24, 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that 500 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) have been selected for the FQHC Advanced Primary Care Practice (APCP) demonstration project from over 800 applicants. The initiative is designed to evaluate the impact of the advanced primary care practice model, also known as the patient-centered medical home, on improving health, improving quality of care, and lowering the cost of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries served by FQHCs.

The demonstration was developed by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Innovation Center) in cooperation with the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA). This initiative will provide health care opportunities for nearly 200,000 Medicare beneficiaries aimed at improving their quality and coordination of care while lowering costs.

This fact sheet provides a general description of the Federally Qualified Health Center Advanced Primary Care Practice demonstration.

BACKGROUND
The Innovation Center was created by the Affordable Care Act to test new models of health care delivery and payment, offer technical support to providers to improve the coordination of care, and diffuse lessons learned and best practices widely throughout the healthcare system. It is committed to transforming the Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP programs to deliver better care for individuals, better health for populations, and slower growth in expenditures through improvement for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
The Affordable Care Act provides a number of new tools and resources to help improve health care and lower costs for all Americans. The Advanced Primary Care Practice is a physician-based or nurse practitioner-led medical practice that provides continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, and patient-
centered medical care. An APCP links multiple points of health delivery by utilizing a team approach with the patient at the center. It is designed to encourage doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare providers to work together to better coordinate care for Medicare patients.