A measureable framework of integrated, patient-centered oral health care
Vision
The Patient-Centered Dental Home (PCDH) project is developing a measurable model of care that advances a 21st century integrated oral healthcare system by improving the individual experience of patient-centered, prevention-focused dental care that is coordinated with the broader healthcare system.
Mission
The PCDH is intended to provide dental practices and systems, community-health centers, insurance providers and accrediting organizations with systematically evaluated tools to effectively measure and improve the patient-centeredness of the care provided.
PCDH Development: A Decade of Collaborative Research
The PCDH project has been conducted in phases over the past 10 years, utilizing a broad range of national thought leaders and representatives of professional organization with depth and breadth of experience in dental care delivery, quality measurement, and care improvement. Utilizing consensus-based processes, this project has identified a framework for evaluating patient-centered care that includes a standardized definition for a PCDH, a list of key components associated with each characteristic, and measure concepts and metrics for evaluating a PCDH.
This PCDH model is a dental corollary to the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model of care, originally developed sixty years ago by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and now widely accepted as a model for quality, coordinated medical primary care.
Our standardized definition of a PCDH was developed through this consensus process, influenced by the definition of the PCMH: “The patient-centered dental home is a model of care that is accessible, comprehensive, continuous, coordinated, patient and family-centered, and focused on quality and safety as an integrated part of a health home for people throughout the life span.”
The development of PCDH project is being supported by the CareQuest Institute for Oral Health.
PCDH Framework
The Patient-Centered Dental Home Framework includes all measures, standards and patient-reported outcomes that were deemed appropriate by a consensus process to evaluate each of the components of the PCDH. A 50+ member National Advisory Committee utilized a modified Delphi process to assess the concepts appropriate to evaluate each component and then which specific metric (measure, standard and/or patient-reported outcome) best matched the measure concept. Here is the final preliminary framework for the PCDH that is currently being pilot tested with experts nationally.
Add link to PCDH Framework page
PCDH Quality Metric Clearinghouse
The Patient-Centered Dental Home Quality Metric Clearinghouse is an interactive, online database that houses over 600 oral health quality measures, standards and patient-reported outcome measures that is designed to improve the quality, organization and delivery of dental care.
The metrics in the Clearinghouse were collected to inform the creation of the PCDH Framework and are also of value to anyone interested in searching available quality metrics used in dental care.
Current PCDH Development Activities
Now that a comprehensive framework of preliminary metrics for measuring a Patient-Centered Dental Home has been developed, refinement is underway for all three types of metrics that are included in the PCDH framework: 1) quality measures, 2) standards of care and, 3) patient-reported outcomes.
The PCDH measures and standards are in the pilot testing phase. Steering committees of national experts with diverse backgrounds are being utilized to assess and hone the final sets of measures and standards.
We have also started utilizing a steering committee of national experts to evaluate the concepts for which patient-reported outcomes are best suited to assess the characteristics and components in the comprehensive PCDH framework.
The pilot sites represent a variety of practice settings and perspectives (e.g.,organized delivery systems, community health centers, insurers) to evaluate the importance and burden for each metric among a variety of potential users.
Current PCDH Development Activities
Completed PCDH Development Activities
A consensus model process was used to systematically develop the initial framework for a a patient-centered home, in coordination with a 50+ member National Advisory Committee (NAC):
- First, a standardized definition of a patient-centered dental home, modeled on the PCMH definition, was developed, that included 6 six key characteristics,
- Second, 20 key components associated with each of the 6 characteristics in the PCDH definition were identified to assist with the identification and selection of metrics for measuring a PCDH.
- Third, a systematic review of existing dental quality measures resulted in the creation of a clearinghouse of the 600+ quality measures, standards and patient-reported outcomes measures. The consensus process with the NAC then utilized the clearinghouse to identify the concepts for which measures were needed to create the framework for a measurable PCDH.
- Fourth, a preliminary framework of measures, standards and patient-reported outcomes was developed, matching existing or newly developed metrics to the measure concepts identified previously.
Completed PCDH Development Activities
Project Publications
Phase 1 Report
blah blah blah
Phase 2 Report
blah blah blah
Phase 3 Report
blah blah blah
Project News
Update 1
blah blah blah
Update 2
blah blah blah
Update 3
blah blah blah