Medical Home Receives National Recognition

St. Clare's Medical Home at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center has been recognized for its clinical performance by the National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient‐Centered Medical Home 2011 program. After a rigorous application process, St. Claire's achieved Level 3 recognition, the highest offered within the program.

According to Sister Betty Lyons, OSF, Vice President of Community Services, "This recognition exemplifies the commitment we've made as both a health system and a Catholic hospital to support comprehensive quality care in a medical home setting. We are humbled by the honor of a Level 3 designation for the significant effort we have put forth to care for our very own team members." A medical home is a patient‐centered health care facility providing comprehensive primary care that facilitates partnerships between individual patients, and their personal physicians, and when appropriates, the patient’s family. Lourdes medical home has been providing comprehensive health and wellness services, including acute illnesses, chronic illnesses and well care, to employees and their dependents for over three years. The medical home is staffed with two office personnel, three nurse practitioners, a registered nurse, and a registered dietician. Before the medical home, the employee health clinic had been caring for employees for 10 years.

The NCQA Patient‐Centered Medical Home standards of care are the first and most widely‐used formal evaluation processes from a national quality oversight organization that results in a designation. The standards assist in development of comprehensive disease‐Centered Medical Home recognition program is to continue to improve the delivery of primary care. The program promotes medical homes that focus on the patient experience, recognizes clinicians for their efforts to support systematic, coordinated care management processes and rewards the illustration of value for the dollars spent on quality care.