Staffing transformation following Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition among Health Resources & Services Administration-funded health centers

Abstract

Introduction Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition is designed to promote whole-person team-based and integrated care. Purpose Our goal was to assess changes in staffing infrastructure that promoted team-based and integrated care delivery before and after PCMH recognition in Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)-funded health centers (HCs). Methodology/Approach We identified changes in staffing 2 years before and 3 years after PCMH recognition using 2010–2019 Uniform Data System data among three cohorts of HCs that received PCMH recognition in 2013 (n = 346), 2014 (n = 207), and 2015 (n = 115). Our outcomes were team-based ratio (full-time equivalent medical and nonmedical providers and staff to one primary care physician) and a multidisciplinary staff ratio (allied medical and nonmedical staff to 1,000 patients). We used mixed-effects Poisson regression models. Results The earlier cohorts served fewer complex patients and were larger before PCMH recognition. Three years following recognition, the 2013 and 2014 cohorts had significantly larger team-based ratios, and all three cohorts had significantly larger multidisciplinary staff ratios. Cohorts varied, however, in the type of staff that drove this change. Both ratios increased in the longer term. Conclusion Our study suggests that growth in team-based and multidisciplinary staff ratios in each cohort may have been due to a combination of HCs’ perceptions of need for specific services, HRSA funding, and technical assistance opportunities. Policy Implications Further research is needed to understand barriers such as costs of employing a multidisciplinary staff, particularly those that cannot directly bill for services as well as whether such changes lead to practice transformation and improved quality of care.