(11-12-08) AACOM submitted comments on a draft report regarding the medical-dental home in the context of primary care training. The report, entitled Coming Home: The Patient-Centered Medical-Dental Home in Primary Care Training, is the seventh annual report to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Congress by the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry (ACTPCMD). The ACTPCMD advises and makes recommendations to the Secretary of HHS concerning policy, program development and other matters of significance related to the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Bureau of Health Professions’ family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general dentistry, pediatric dentistry and physician assistant programs.
In its comments, AACOM commended the ACTPCMD for producing a well-written, thorough report. AACOM agreed that a comprehensive, high-quality health care system must include a strong primary care component, and that the medical-dental home model offers an important approach to addressing growing difficulties in our health care system. It noted that the report should more forcefully stress the role Title VII can and should play in providing a pipeline of primary care providers to ensure success of the patient-centered medical and dental home (PCMDH) model. AACOM also commented that the report would be strengthened if it recommended a specific funding amount, over a specific period, for PCMDH implementation.
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