NYAPRS Note: As the nation transitions to integrated care models that promote outreach, engagement, and systemic approaches to well-being, peer support is becoming more valuable as an integral service within primary care models. Peer programs can seek new partnerships with primary care offices in community based settings or hospitals where the role of the peer is not diminished in their capability to help a person achieve well-being.
Peer Support in the Patient-Centered Medical Home and Primary Care
Conference Report, May 2015
In April, ??the PCPCC teamed up with Peers for Progress (a program of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation) and the National Council of La Raza to discuss the role of peer support ?(Community Health Workers in particular) ?in primary care and the patient-centered medical home??. At the conference, we invited ten model programs as a focus and stimulus for discussion as well as a range of leaders from the practice, research, government, payer, and civic sectors. All three organizations summarized the discussions from the meeting and descriptions of the ten model programs into a joint conference report titled, Peer Support in the Patient-Centered Medical Home and Primary Care.
Download the full report to gain a better understanding of how the patient-centered medical home and peer support can help address the crisis in health care.
Evidence presented at the conference demonstrated that CHWs and others providing peer support not only reduce healthcare costs and improve access to care, but also are practical and adaptable to a variety of practice settings. Peer support and PCMH share common values and goals, emphasizing healthy lifestyles, disease prevention, and whole person care that is responsive to individual, family, and community needs. The conference report follows the release of a suite of program development resources designed to support and guide efforts for implementing and improving peer support programs.
“Our health care system is in a dire situation: the lack of practical resources and frameworks for building lasting programs means pressing human health needs are left unmet,” said Edwin B. Fisher, global director of Peers for Progress. “Evidence from around the world shows that primary care and patient centered medical homes can improve care and outcomes. Peer support can be the linchpin that links people in need to their care. Together, they can take big steps to assure ‘the right care at the right time for the right price.’”