Natasha,
The concept of patient-centered medical homes is an evolution of health care that focuses
on the individual, rather than the population (Shi & Singh, 2019). It is a concept that finds it’s
roots in the late 1960’s. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) introduced the term
‘‘medical home’’ to describe the role of the primary care pediatric practice (Arend et al., 2012).
The concept gained traction in the 1990’s when it was supported by the Institute of Medicine’s
series of reports on primary care that made specific reference to the term ‘‘medical home”
(Phillips, McCauley, & Koller, 2021). This concept refers to the implantation of care that both
respect and responsive of the individual preferences, need, and value of patients. This concept
also uses the values of the patient to guide the decisions of treatment. This concept can be
applied to the treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes. Rosland et al. (2017) found that by
implementing patient-centered medical homes in 77 different medical centers within the
Veteran’s Heath Administration, there were significantly larger improvements in the treatment of
chronic diseases when compared to 69 clinics that did not have patient-centered medical homes.
The biggest issue with the concept of patient-centered medical homes is that it hasn’t yet gained
the support of stakeholder communities that is needed to implement this concept on a national
level (De Marchis et al., 2019). Despite the lack of support for this concept and the lack of
scholarly research on the subject, there are a myriad of supportive governmental policies and
private payer trends creating a widespread, grass roots effort to implement the concept of these
patient-centered medical homes.
If we dig into the themes that have been presented to us in the Bible, we find that the
concept of patient-centered care is not a foreign concept. Patient-centered care can be
phenomenological in approach, meaning that subjective experience determines a patient’s
experience with care and his or her concept of truth. Because of patient-centered care’s emphasis
on accepting a patient’s wishes no matter what, the door is open to relativism. As Jesus told the
disciples, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (English Standard Version Bible, 2001,
John 17:17). The concepts behind patient-centered care can be a reminder that God created us
with a purpose for which we long. However, seeking to know ourselves will not restore us to that
purpose. Instead, we must seek to know God and allow Him to reveal to us the unique purpose
He has for us. We must rely on the power of His Holy Spirit and the solid foundation of His
Word in order to be healed and sanctified.
Work Cited
Arend, J., Tsang-Quinn, J., Levine, C., & Thomas, D. (2012). The patient-centered medical
home: History, components, and review of the evidence. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine:
A Journal of Translational and Personalized Medicine, 79(4), 433–450.
https://doi.org/10.1002/msj.21326
De Marchis, E. H., Doekhie, K., Willard-Grace, R., & Olayiwola, J. N. (2019). The impact of the
patient-centered medical home on health care disparities: Exploring stakeholder
perspectives on current standards and Future Directions. Population Health Management,
22(2), 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2018.0055
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). John 17:17 ESV Online. https://esv.literalword.com/
Phillips, R. L., McCauley, L. A., & Koller, C. F. (2021). Implementing high-quality primary care.
JAMA, 325(24), 2437. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2021.7430
Rosland, A.-M., Wong, E., Maciejewski, M., Zulman, D., Piegari, R., Fihn, S., & Nelson, K.
(2017). Patient-centered medical home implementation and improved chronic disease
quality: A longitudinal observational study. Health Services Research, 53(4), 2503–2522.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12805
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2019). Essentials of the U.S. health care system (5th ed.). Jones and
Bartlett Publishers.
