Veterans Memorial Hospital-Waukon Clinic earns Patient-Centered Medical Home accreditation

The Compliance Team Accreditation Organization recently announced that Veterans Memorial Hospital-Waukon Clinic received the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) certification. PCMH is a measured continuous quality improvement program that incorporates patient-centered practice guidelines, focusing on day-to-day practice operations and emphasizing health maintenance, preventative screening, multi-specialty medical services, patient experience reporting and bench-marking.

The Waukon Clinic set out to be certified in PCMH, then went through a full survey process and received this accreditation which brings them one step closer to helping them start a chronic care management program.

“We are so happy to have qualified for this certification. It is truly another way to help us better focus on our patients,” states Laura Baxter, RN/BSN, MBA, Clinic Director. “To be accredited with the compliance team shows how dedicated we are to our patient’s needs and health - making all patients the center of care, doing patient goals, and even focusing on the needs of the patients outside of just their medical needs.”

The benefits of becoming a Patient-Centered Medical Home facility include the following:
• Increased level of patient engagement.
• Improved outcomes.
• Better management of chronic care patients.
• Decreased ER and in-patient utilization.
• Improved patient experience and satisfaction.

Patients age 65 and older now have to fill out a needs assessment form, asking not just about their health, but about their resources and if they have the all-around support they need.

“We are now the link, making sure they get to the right person at the right time, helping them stress less about their paper work and helping them get it where it needs to be.  We are also the link between their primary and their specialty care,” adds Baxter.  “We are hiring a Nurse Navigator that will be strictly dedicated to focus on these tasks and on our high-risk patients. Our main goals are to keep our patients healthy, out of the ER and out of the hospital.  It keeps the cost of health care down for all of us which is the overall goal.  We are now truly offering more coordinated care to better help our community and patients, especially the more fragile ones.”

“I am proud of our staff and all of the steps they have had to implement for this program to help track our patients,” summarizes Baxter. “This is not a money maker for us. We are just passionate about our patients and this certification gives us the stamp of approval that we are doing everything right!”

For more information or to make an appointment at the Veterans Memorial Hospital Waukon Clinic, feel free to call them at 563-568-5530.