PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Chronic Care Sustainability Initiative (CSI-RI), one of the first multi-payer, patient-centered medical home initiatives in the country, recently released 2013 data highlighting the success of its innovative model of primary care, and announced plans to expand significantly over the coming months.
CSI-RI launched its first five pilot sites in 2008 and has since expanded to include 36 primary care practices with 48 practice sites, 303 providers and provides more than 220,000 Rhode Islanders access to a PCMH. The 2014 expansion will add up to 20 additional practices and provide about 100,000 more Rhode Islanders with access to a PCMH.
CSI-RI practices collectively met every targeted patient heath outcome, including areas of weight management, diabetes, high blood pressure and tobacco cessation, and practices are showing improvement over time in all of the targeted areas; the practices also received increased positive patient experience ratings, including access to care, communication with their care team, office staff responsiveness, shared decision-making, and self-management support.
More experienced CSI-RI practices saw reduced inpatient hospitalization, while the comparison group (primary care practices that are not CSI-RI patient-centered medical homes) experienced an increase. More CSI-RI practices (81 percent) have achieved National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) recognition, which sets specific standards for primary care practices to use in organizing care around patients, working in teams and coordinating and tracking care over time.
