Cabot Westside achieves “medical home” designation

Dec. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Cabot Westside Health and Dental Center – part of Saint Luke’s Health System – is the Kansas City, Mo., area’s first safety net provider to be recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Level-III Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) – the highest recognition for a medical group.

NCQA’s designation recognizes medical practices that value the strengthening of the physician-patient relationship by replacing episodic care with coordinated care and a long-term healing relationship. Hallmarks of the NCQA – PCMH model include:

•   Personal physician for continuous, comprehensive care.
•   Physician-directed medical practice leads a team of individuals who collectively take responsibility for ongoing patient care.
•   Whole-person orientation directed by the personal physician who provides or arranges for care with qualified professionals.
•   Integrated care across all elements of the complex health system and the patient’s community.
•   Quality and safety.

Nicole Schmidt, Cabot’s operations manager, led the application process.

“The medical home recognition reflects Cabot’s transformation and commitment to a patient-centered approach to health care,” said Schmidt. “The PCMH model is beneficial because patients receive better, coordinated care. For the clinic, it ensures a more efficient, cost-effective system of operating the practice, resulting in improved patient care.”

Liz Cessor, executive director, Cabot Westside Health and Dental Center, said the clinic’s care model is coordinated by a physician-led team, and emphasizes proactive planning for both prevention and chronic disease care. “This coordinated, efficient system enhances communication between patients, physicians, and staff, and helps to eliminate fragmented care and unnecessary visits to the emergency room,” said Cessor. “That leads to improved health outcomes for the population we serve,” added Cessor.

Cabot Westside Health and Dental, located at 2121 Summit in Kansas City, Mo., provides quality, culturally sensitive, bilingual health and dental care services to the growing Hispanic community in Kansas City. Services include adult, family, and pediatric medicine; general dentistry; mental health screening; chronic disease management; and case management. Cabot is also a provider agency site for the Women, Infants & Children (WIC) nutrition program. Cabot is among Kansas City’s safety net providers, serving an underinsured and uninsured population and those with difficulty navigating the traditional health care system due to language barriers, cultural differences, geographic conditions, or budget constraints.

For more information, visit http://www.saintlukeshealthsystem.org or http://www.ncqa.org.

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Saint Luke's Health System based in Kansas City, Mo., consists of 11 area hospitals in northwest Missouri and eastern Kansas, and several primary and specialty care practices. We provide a range of inpatient, outpatient, and home care services.