Using an Integrated Model of Care to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Life by Improving Chronic Pain Management in the Patient Centered Medical Home

The primary goals of this initiative are to improve patient safety and outcomes by improving the management and quality of care provided to patients with non-cancer chronic pain using the frameworks of the Chronic Care Model for improving chronic illness care and the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) model for redesigning primary care practice. We will achieve these goals by bringing together a powerful partnership of primary care leaders in Maine with national experts in chronic pain management and leveraging existing PCMH efforts in the state, using the following primary two objectives:

1.Provide structured quality improvement (QI) support to up to 10 Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practice sites to implement standardized, systematic and team-based processes to improve comprehensive chronic pain management. This QI approach will focus on implementing consistent and reliable processes of care that promote adherence to current best practice guidelines that advance a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, patient-centered approach to chronic pain management and safe prescribing of opioids.
2.Provide education, peer support, and specialty expert consultation to primary care providers in these PCMH sites to increase their knowledge and self-efficacy to effectively manage chronic pain. This includes providing education from the Chronic Pain Curriculum developed by the Physician's Institute for Excellence in Medicine (PIEM); providing peer support to providers in participating PCMH practice sites through outreach, education, and collaborative learning opportunities; and offering expert consultation to primary care providers through the Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) initiative for chronic pain management in partnership with the Community Health Center (Middletown, CT).