Role of pharmacists in the medical home

The concept of the “medical home” was developed over 40 years ago and came from the field of pediatrics as a way to address the needs of children with special health care needs.1 More broadly, the reasoning was that all patients should have a home where they can receive much of their care and through which their care can be coordinated; this includes but goes beyond having a primary care provider. The medical home is not a physical structure but a fundamental rethinking of the way care should be delivered. The medical home concept has been embraced by a variety of fields, including family medicine and general internal medicine.2,3 The features of a medical home include (1) integrated and comprehensive physician-led team care, (2) clinical information systems to support this care, including decision support and registry functions, (3) ready access to care when the patient needs it, (4) routine patient feedback to physicians, (5) patient engagement in care and decision-making, (6) patient-centered care with an emphasis on dignity and respect, and (7) publicly available information on quality and efficiency.4