Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and Patient-Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP)

The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) and the Patient-Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP) offer centralized, coordinated care for patients, whether in a long-term primary care setting or in a specialty requiring communication between primary and specialty care. Some programs and payers, including Medicare’s Quality Payment Program, offer incentives to practices that are recognized as a PCMH or PCSP.  

  • Joint Principles of the PCMH: In March 2007, the primary care professional societies endorsed a set of joint principles. Since then, these principles have now been endorsed and reaffirmed by many more physician organizations.   
  • Joint Guidelines for Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition and Accreditation Programs (March 2011): These Guidelines, developed jointly by ACP, AAFP, AAP, and AOA, are intended to ensure some standardization among PCMH Recognition and Accreditation Programs while encouraging a focus on the key elements of the PCMH.  
  • Joint Principles for the Medical Education of Physicians as Preparation for Practice in the PCMH (December 2010): These principles, developed jointly by ACP, AAFP, AAP, and AOA, guide medical school curricula in ensuring that all physicians, regardless of their specialty choice, will have the expertise to practice in a health care delivery system based on the patient-centered medical home.  
  • High Value Care Coordination (HVCC) Toolkit: A collaboration between the American College of Physicians (ACP), Council of Subspecialty Societies (CSS) and patient advocacy groups, the HVCC Toolkit provides resources to facilitate more effective and patient-centered communication between primary care and subspecialist doctors. Included are “pertinent data sets” needed for transferring patients to specialty care, model referral request and response checklists, and care coordination agreements. 

ACP PCMH/PCSP Policy  

PCMH/PCSP Resources