The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has awarded Level 3 Recognition as Certified Patient Centered Medical Home status to both Health Access, Inc. of Clarksburg, WV and to Milan Puskar Health Right of Morgantown, WV. Both clinics are supported by Wheeling Jesuit University’s HEALTHeWV (HeWV), an electronic health records-based disease management, health outcomes improvement and health promotion program.

NSQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) 2011 is an innovative program for improving primary care. The program gives practices information about organizing care around patients, working in teams and coordinating and tracking care over time. Standards build on past success and emphasis is placed on using health information technology to improve quality. Early evaluations of the PCMH model have shown promising results in improving care quality and lowering costs by increasing access to more efficient, more coordinated care.

There are three levels of NCQA PCMH Recognition, each reflecting the degree to which standard requirements are met. Recognition levels allow clinics with a range of capabilities and sophistication to meet the standards’ requirements successfully.

“Health Access, Inc. is pleased to have achieved a Level 3 Recognition as a Certified Patient Centered Medical Home from the NCQA. This survey/review process took many months and lots of team effort by clinic staff. Much of the documentation and verification of processes required from within the NCQA survey was provided utilizing “screen shots” from the HEALTHeWV electronic health record system to verify specific care plans and processes involved in documenting and tracking care of patients. HEALTHeWV and the partnership with their staff made this process of documenting our work much easier than it would be without a robust and comprehensive EMR. The NCQA recognition process is indeed a team effort and we are grateful that HEALTHeWV is a part of our team at Health Access,” says Jim Harris, Executive Director of Health Access, Inc.

To date, five HEALTHeWV supported Clinics have received NCQA recognition - Monongahela Valley Association of Health Centers, Inc., West Virginia Health Right, Wheeling Health Right, Health Access, Inc. and Milan Puskar Health Right.

Kathie Brown, Executive Director of Wheeling Health Right notes, “This is very exciting for our clinic and our community. HEALTHeWV worked beautifully with the goals and we were able to find everything we needed.”

Sandy Linsky, Interim Director of HEALTHeWV states, “One of the many advantages of HEALTHeWV is the ability to adapt to the clinics’ needs. In this example, we are helping these clinics meet the Certified Patient Centered Medical Home requirements. Our clinics care for the citizens of West Virginia and HEALTHeWV is pleased to help improve patient care throughout the state.”

HEALTHeWV is a comprehensive health care improvement program developed specifically for West Virginia’s medically underserved, rural communities. It is an electronic health records-based disease management, health outcomes improvement and health promotion program built upon the Army’s award-winning HEALTHeFORCES program. There are currently over twenty clinics, four health departments, three school-based clinics and three academic curricular sites enrolled in the program. More information on HeWV is available at www.healthewv.net.

A global leader in academic excellence, undergraduate research and service learning, Wheeling Jesuit University is ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation's colleges by Forbes Magazine. One of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States, Wheeling Jesuit has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as a top regional university for the past 14 years.

Wheeling Jesuit has 19 NCAA Division II athletic teams for men and women, claiming 59 championships and 45-plus Academic All-Americans.

The campus is home to the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center, the Erma Ora Byrd Center for Educational Technologies, the NASA-sponsored Classroom of the Future, a Challenger Learning Center and the Clifford M. Lewis Appalachian Institute. For complete information, please visit www.wju.edu or call 1-800-624-6992.