The Role of Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition in Addressing Public Health Priorities

American Public Health Association's (APHA's) vision for creating the healthiest nation in one generation has been driven by clear priorities to rebuild the public health infrastructure, to ensure access to care, and to reduce health disparities. The journey toward APHA's vision has required and benefited from a variety of interventions including congressional acts, government regulations, public health policy changes, innovative ideas and technology, novel health care reimbursement strategies, and voluntary certifications. American Public Health Association's endorsement of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of health care delivery as instrumental to its vision has been an impetus for several PCMH recognition standards. This review gathers evidence from academic and professional literature on how achieving accreditation as a PCMH advances APHA's public health priorities. The documentations of 3 national PCMH accreditation programs (Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care, National Committee for Quality Assurance, and The Joint Commission) are reviewed, and their standard categories and performance measurement criteria checklists are mapped to both APHA priorities and the Joint Principles of PCMH. Further context for the importance of achieving each measurement criteria while identifying additional opportunities to address APHA priorities in each accreditation standard category is discussed.