Popular U.S. health reform plan may not cut costs, boost quality: study

By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) – Increased attention given to patients in primary care practices organized into so-called medical homes may not improve quality of care or reduce health costs as reformers of the U.S. healthcare system had hoped, researchers said on Tuesday. Thousands of primary care doctors in the United States are revamping their practices based on this new medical home model. In medical home practices, primary care doctors adopt a team-based care approach using patient registries, electronic health records and other tools to help identify high-risk patients and deliver more personalized care. But new evidence from a large, three-year pilot study among 32 physician practices in Pennsylvania found modest improvements in quality of care and no reductions in hospitalizations, emergency department visits or total costs of care.