How Medical Homes Promote Equity in Health Care
A study reported yesterday from,the Commmonwealth Fund repeats again, what primary care physicians have know for more than 50 years. Disparities in terms of access to and quality of care largely disappear when adults have a medical home, insurance coverage, and access to high-quality services and systems of care. A medical home is defined as a health care setting that provides patients with timely, well-organized care and enhanced access to providers. They experience no difficulty contacting their provider by phone; they experience no difficulty getting care or advice on weekends or evenings; and they report that their office visits are always well organized and on schedule.
However, this will not happen until the medical schools in the U.S. learn from every other medical school in the world that the focus of training should be on providing primary care, and that the reimburesment system (private or govermental) must fund a medical home with an emphasis on prevention and health maintaitence,.