PCMH Manual and Additional Resources

The PCMH manual is the central reference for the patient centered medical home programme. Alongside it sits a collection of additional resources: the programme policies that amend the manual, forms a practice needs, newsletters, quality assurance guidance, report samples and guides, and the vendor information that connects a practice to support.

The manual and its policies

The manual sets out how the programme works for a participating practice, and it is issued for defined periods so that practices know which version applies to them. Successive editions have been published, and each is kept so that a practice can refer to the version that governed a given period.

Policy addenda accompany the manual and record changes made between editions. Reading the addendum for a period alongside the manual gives the complete picture of what was expected at that time.

Forms and lists

The resources include the forms a practice needs to work with the programme, together with the lists of participating primary care providers for the relevant years. These documents are practical rather than explanatory: they are the paperwork and the rosters that support enrolment and administration.

Keeping the forms and lists together makes it easier for a practice to assemble what it needs without searching across several sections of the programme's material.

Quality assurance and reporting resources

Quality assurance materials help a practice meet the programme's care planning expectations. They include guidance on care plans and sample care plans for particular conditions, so that a practice can see the standard it is being measured against.

Report samples and guides complete the set. Sample quarterly reports and pooled reports are provided with the guides that explain how to read them, so a practice can understand its own results when they arrive.

Newsletters, vendors and further reading

The programme has published newsletters for participating practices, and the collection keeps them as a record of the guidance shared with practices over time. Vendor information identifies the organisations that support the programme, including the foundation that provides practice transformation support.

Additional resources include a literature review, background information on the medical home model and the minutes of the programme's stakeholder advisory group sessions held over successive months. Together they give a practice both the operational documents and the wider context.

It is worth keeping the edition of the manual that governs the period a practice is being measured in, because reports are interpreted against the requirements in force at the time. When a question arises about an older result, being able to read the manual and the addendum that applied then gives a clear answer, whereas the current edition may describe a rule that was introduced later. The collection here keeps the editions and addenda together so that this comparison remains possible.

The additional resources are best treated as a working set rather than a reading list. A practice might keep the current manual, the relevant addendum, the forms it uses and the current participation list together, and consult the newsletters and quality assurance guidance when a specific question arises. Organised that way, the collection supports the day-to-day running of the programme instead of sitting unread.

What the collection provides

• The PCMH manual, issued for successive periods.
• Programme policy addenda that amend the manual between editions.
• Participation lists and the forms a practice needs.
• Newsletters circulated to participating practices.
• Quality assurance guidance and sample care plans.
• Report samples, report guides, vendor information and background reading.

Categories of resource

Manuals, addenda and resources are published for particular periods and are superseded as the programme changes. Practices should use the current edition of the manual and the latest official guidance when making decisions.