Patient-centered care focuses on improving the health of individuals and the quality and cost-effectiveness of health care. Through a patient-centered approach, patients define and articulate their health needs, participate with providers in health care decision making, and take an active role in guiding their own care. Patient-centered care provides services in a holistic, comprehensive, coordinated, and continuous manner.
MeHAF promotes the establishment of patient and family-centered care in Maine through grants, research, convening and consensus-building. The Integration Initiative, which coordinates primary care and behavioral health, has been MeHAF's primary approach to Patient and Family-centered care since 2007.
To learn more about MeHAF’s approach to patient and family-centered care, e-mail
Becky Hayes Boober or call her at (207) 620-8266 x 114.
Grants
MeHAF grants support a variety of experts. In 2007 and 2008, MeHAF awarded more than $8 million in grants to 27 collaborative partnerships to improve the integration and delivery of mental/behavioral health services and primary health care services. More than 125 Maine organizations are involved in the statewide Integration Initiative, using a variety of models to provide patients with integrated and evidence-based services in varied settings. MeHAF's grants support improvements in clinical services and promote innovative efforts to redesign Maine’s health systems to achieve better integration, quality, and health outcomes.
Research
Barriers to Integration is a study produced by the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of Public Service for MeHAF that will be available in Spring 2009. The research examines barriers to integrated care at the national, state, practice and patient levels and investigates regulatory, licensure, and reimbursement issues related to integration. The report includes potential solutions to some of the barriers.
Convening and Consensus-building
MeHAF Helps Maine Define Patient-Centered Care: MeHAF convened a broad-based Steering Committee including representation from patients, providers, business, insurers, state officials, policy analysts, researchers and others following a kick-off meeting in the Spring of 2006. Building on national integration models and research, the steering committee helped MeHAF define integration as a preferred approach to patient and family-centered care. The Committee articulated the opportunities to advance and the barriers against integration, and outlined 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.
Through a grant to grassroots organizations, MeHAF assembled consumers of health care to solicit their input on the most urgent needs in Maine today.
Maine Integrated Health Initiative: Maine People Speak about Health Care Integration summarizes the opinions of more than 1,400 Maine people from across the state.