Association of Patient-Centered Medical Home designation and quality indicators within HRSA-funded community health center delivery sites

Abstract Background: Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) adoption is an important strategy to help improve primary care quality within Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) community health centers (CHC), but evidence of its effect thus far remains mixed. A limitation of previous evaluations has been the inability to account for the proportion of CHC delivery sites that are designated medical homes.Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study using HRSA Uniform Data System (UDS) and certification files from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission (JC). Datasets were linked through geocoding and an approximate string-matching algorithm. Predicted probability scores were regressed onto 11 clinical performance measures using 10% increments in site-level designation using 10% increments in site designation and regressed onto 11 clinical performance measures using beta logistic regression.Results: The geocoding and approximate string-matching algorithm identified 2,615 of the 6,851 (41.8%) delivery sites included in the analyses as having been designated through the NCQA and/or JC. In total, 74.7% (n=777) of the 1,039 CHCs that met the inclusion criteria for the analysis managed at least one NCQA- and/or JC-designated site. A proportional increase in site-level designation showed a positive association with adherence scores for the majority of all indicators, but primarily among CHCs that designated at least 50% of its delivery sites. Once this threshold was achieved, there was a stepwise percentage point increase in adherence scores, ranging from 1.9% to 11.8% improvement, depending on the measure.Conclusion: Geocoding and approximate string-matching techniques offer a reliable approach for monitoring the association between site-level PCMH designation and clinical performance within HRSA’s CHC delivery sites. The model also offers preliminary evidence of a stepwise increase in quality metrics once half of a CHC’s delivery sites become designated medical homes.