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Promoting Patient Centered Care
From the patient's perspective, our current health care system lacks organization, integration and coordination. It is particularly difficult for people who are uninsured or low-income to navigate. Patient-centered care is an approach to delivering health care that encourages patients to define and articulate their needs, participate with providers in health care decision making, and take an active role in guiding their own care. Patient-centered care is integrated so that physical and mental health are viewed holistically and addressed in a comprehensive, coordinated, and continuous manner. The focus of patient-centered care is to improve the health of individuals and to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care.
The MeHAF approach to patient-centered care focuses on promoting integration of primary and specialty care with mental and behavioral health, dental care, and other services. Efforts have focused on grantmaking, research and evaluation, and assessment and consensus-building.
Grantmaking
Current grants: In 2007, MeHAF funded twenty competitive grants to advance patient-centered care in Maine through the integration of primary, behavioral, and specialty care; work began in January 2008. Projects range from support for collaboration among the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the National Guard and the private sector to diagnose and treat traumatic brain injuries resulting from battlefield experiences; to a project that will establish seamless primary, emergency, dental, and behavioral health care focused around a new dental clinic in Rumford; to several models of providing mental health services in primary care settings. The MeHAF November 2007 press release contains a complete list and brief descriptions of the funded grants. You can also review the RFP (now closed) that MeHAF issued to solicit applications.
Future Funding: MeHAF plans to release a new RFP in the summer of 2008 to fund additional projects that promote integration. To be notified of future funding opportunities, please register to receive
Access Points, MeHAF’s electronic newsletter.
Research and Evaluation
Barriers to Integration: MeHAF contracted with the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service to study barriers to the integration of care. This study, scheduled to be completed in summer 2008, will identify barriers at the national, practice, and patient levels and will also investigate regulatory, licensure, and reimbursement issues related to integration. The report will also include suggested solutions to some of the barriers. A broad-based advisory group is providing stakeholder input to the Muskie School researchers, and the project leader, John Gale.
Convening and Consensus-Building
MeHAF held a day-long kickoff event for its Integration Initiative on April 27, 2006. Read the presentations from this meeting and information from the panel discussion
"Integrating Maine's Mental, Substance Abuse & Physical Health Systems: Status and Challenges."
Following the kick-off, MeHAF convened a broad-based Steering Committee including representation from patients, providers, business, insurers, state officials, policy analysts, researchers and others. The steering committee helped MeHAF define integration, articulate barriers and opportunities to advance integration, and outline benchmarks to assess how Maine's health care system is moving toward improved integration. This group developed a consensus vision for integration that is summarized in "
Integrated Health Care in Maine: Vision, Principles and Values, and Goals and Objectives." This document serves as a general guide for integration in Maine and for MeHAF’s current and future grantmaking efforts.
Additional Information
For information about MeHAF priority Promoting Patient Centered Care or the Integration Initiative, call Barbara Leonard at (207) 620-8266, ext. 102.
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