(HARRISBURG, PA.) Pennsylvania’s Dept. of Human Services has announced that the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians’ (PAFP) past-president and current Board Chair Douglas Spotts, MD and Crozer-Keystone Health System’s Family Medicine Residency Program Director William Warning, MD have been appointed to the state’s first Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Advisory Council. Dr. Spotts is also the Chief Medical Information Officer at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg.
The Council was created by enactment of HB 1655, during the 2014 legislative session, sponsored by House Health Committee Chairman Matt Baker (R-Tioga). State Senator Judy Schwank (D-Berks) sponsored companion legislation in the Senate. Gov. Tom Wolf’s Acting Secretary of the Dept. of Human Services Theodore Dallas began composition of the Council after the change of administrations. The Council is tasked with initiating a comprehensive review and development of a patient-centered medical home model for Pennsylvania. The PAFP was instrumental in the development of and advocacy for the creation of the PCMH Advisory Council.
PCMH is the leading strategy to strengthen and modernize primary care. The concept is based on a “home base” or hub that revolves around the patient-physician relationship, in which patients are aided in navigating the complex health care system and the patient’s individual needs are addressed. Patients are considered partners in the decision-making process, with the primary care team providing patient care and coordinating all of the tests, procedures, and follow-up care that a patient may need.
“The PAFP is honored and delighted by the selection of Drs. Spotts and Warning, and thanks Chairman Baker, Speaker Turzai, House Leader Reed, Senate President Pro Tempore Scarnati, Senate Leader Corman, Senator Schwank and the Wolf administration for working diligently toward implementation of Act 198 of 2014,” said PAFP President Nicole Davis, MD. “We are excited about the potential reforms and advancing a model to support the best care for patients.”
The Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians and its Foundation supports its members (including nearly 80 percent of Pennsylvania family physicians) through advocacy and education to ensure a patient-centered medical home for every Pennsylvanian. The Academy and its Foundation are the leading influential resource among family physicians and physicians in training in Pennsylvania; the primary voice on health care issues with state legislative and administrative branches of government, media and professional health organizations; and the leader on health care issues in the community.
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