WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Committee for Quality Assurance announces that seven local health agencies and one medical practice have received NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home recognition.

The Level 3 recognition, the highest, is for using evidence-based, patient-centered processes that focus on highly coordinated care and long‐term, participatory relationships.

Recognized were: CCS Family Health Care, St. Mary’s Medical Associates, St. Mary’s Poland Family Practice, St. Mary’s Center for Family Medicine at Mollison Way, St. Mary’s Lewiston/Auburn Internal Medicine, St. Mary’s Auburn Medical Associates, B Street Health Center and Dr. Richard Kappelmann’s practice.

The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home is a model of primary care that combines teamwork and information technology to improve care, improve patients’ experience of care and reduce costs. Medical homes foster ongoing partnerships between patients and their personal clinicians, instead of approaching care as the sum of episodic office visits.

Each patient’s care is overseen by clinician-led care teams that coordinate treatment across the health care system. Research shows that medical homes can lead to higher quality and lower costs, and can improve patient and provider reported experiences of care.

To earn recognition, which is valid for three years, St. Mary’s demonstrated the ability to meet the program’s key elements, embodying characteristics of the medical home.

NCQA standards aligned with the joint principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home established with the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Osteopathic Association.