A long road home

It sounds like common sense: Patients are best served when treated by medical providers who work closely together, follow up-to-date standards of care, monitor quality and safety, and are led by a readily accessible doctor who keeps the patient's whole health in mind -- and all of them are paid by a system that recognizes the effort this takes. That's the core of the concept of the patient-centered medical home, of course, and despite the inroads the idea has made in the medical profession, many patients are a long way from seeing it in practice. Still, the idea is compelling, evidence of its efficacy is growing, and policymakers have begun to put the pieces in place to make it the norm rather than the cutting edge. As more pilot projects and controlled studies are established, researchers have been documenting the benefits in terms of health outcomes as well as improvements in efficiency that can benefit the health care system as a whole.