Greater access to patient-centered medical homes — which offer comprehensive, patient-centered and accessible care — may lower patient mortality, according to a new study published in the Annals of Family Medicine.
For the study, researchers assessed 52,241 respondents from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey from 2000-2005. They examined whether the respondents’ source of care had three attributes — comprehensiveness, patient-centeredness and enhanced access — that are main principles of the patient-centered medical home model.
Higher patient-reported access to these three primary care attributes was linked to lower individual mortality risk during a follow-up of up to six years, according to the report. These findings reflect earlier conclusions that geographic areas with lower mortality rates are also areas with higher concentrations of primary care physicians.
The study authors said these findings “suggest that adopting these elements of the medical home has the potential to reduce mortality.”
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