While expanding access to health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act has been vital to millions of previously uninsured Americans, moving U.S. health care away from fee-for-service, volume-driven payments to payments based on value and outcomes will be a much more challenging transformation. For health centers and other health care providers, one commonly used model for practice transformation is the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The PCMH model transforms how primary care is coordinated and delivered by emphasizing comprehensive, team-based care that places the patient at the center. When implemented successfully, the PCMH model leads to higher quality care at a lower cost, improving both the patients’ and providers’ experience of care.
This issue brief uses the framework of a patient-centered medical home to improve health care and health outcomes specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients and families. As an underserved and vulnerable population, LGBT people experience disparities in both health care and health status. The brief provides practice improvement actions for improving care for LGBT patients and families that are also linked to PCMH standards. The practice improvement actions help ensure that health care organizations are welcoming, inclusive, and competent in providing health care to LGBT patients and families.
