Summary: In the patient-centered "medical home" model, patients' families and communities have clear-cut responsibilities, explained Elizabeth Reardon, a consultant with Commonwealth Medicine in Massachusetts. Healthcare organizations can draw parallels from Ed Wagner's chronic care model and learn from the groundbreaking work pediatricians have done to assure continuity of care for children with special healthcare needs. She suggested tactics and resources for drawing families and communities into the medical home model.Reardon, along with Anne Hernandez, director of operations of APS Healthcare and Dr. George Rust, senior consultant for APS Healthcare and Interim Director of the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, shared strategies on building an effective medical home project and the impact these programs can have on patient outcomes and satisfaction during a March 7, 2007 audio conference, Utilizing Medical Homes to Create a Patient-Centered Approach to Managing Chronic Conditions.
