NHCCC Medical Home Port Recognized by National Committee for Quality Assurance

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (NNS) -- Medical Home Port (MHP) at Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi (NHCCC) achieved National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Level II Recognition March 19, by demonstrating compliance and scoring high in all "must pass" elements of the nine respective NCQA standards.

Those standards are:
* Access and Communication
* Patient Tracking and Registry Functions
* Care Management
* Patient Self-Management and Support
* Electronic Prescribing
* Test Tracking
* Referral Tracking
* Performance Reporting and Improvement
* Advanced Electronic Communication

Included in these standards are 10 "must-pass" elements. To get the achievement Level I Recognition, practices must successfully comply with at least five of the elements. Achieving Level II or III depends on overall scoring and compliance with all "must-pass" elements.

Level II is the highest that an MHP outpatient facility like NHCCC can achieve, according to Cmdr. Timothy Quiner, the clinic's director, Health Services.

Capt. Gina M. Jaeger, commanding officer, in her announcement to the staff, credited Quiner and his team.

"Each of you had a vital role in making level II recognition a reality," said Jaeger, "from the corpsmen, nurses and providers working together as a team in managing our patients; and the IT (Information Technology), Business Operations, Medical Records and Disease Management personnel contributing to the records management, referral management, and performance improvement efforts required. You all stepped up to the plate to get the job done!"

In 2011, NHCCC began offering MHP to enroll TRICARE eligible patients into primary care.

MHP is a continuous, comprehensive and integrated health care model that fosters an ongoing, personal relationship between a patient, a primary care manager (PCM) and the patient's care team.

At NHCCC, patients are assigned to Team Comfort or Team Mercy, each consisting of military and civilian family medicine doctors, pediatricians, family nurse practitioners and nursing support staff. All are committed to improving primary care services by focusing on the patient-primary care manager relationship.

"Medical Home Port allows us to improve and to strengthen this dynamic model through a more comprehensive approach to patient care, better access, and more active patient involvement," said Quiner.

In addition to assigning patients to one of two teams, NHCCC offers Relay Health to all patients for an additional secure communications tool they can use to communicate directly with their health care team.

"The best medicine is to find problems early and take care of them before they can cause damage," said Quiner. "Your Medical Home Port team reviews your records and contacts you through Relay Health or by phone. You may also receive a reminder call about future appointments."

Relay Health contributes to NHCCCs success of meeting NCQA standards because it allows patients to request their lab results; request a medication refill; access health care information and allows them to create their own health care record to help manage their own care; all from the comfort of home.

For more news from Naval Health Clinic Corpus Christi, visit www.navy.mil/local/nhcc/.