A Salina healthcare provider has been recognized as one of the best of its kind. Salina Family Healthcare Center has been awarded recognition by the National Committee on Quality Assurance Patient-Centered Medical Home Program.
According to Salina Family Healthcare, the NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home program reflects the input of the American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and others. The NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care that supports access, communication and patient involvement. Salina Family Healthcare Center initially achieved PCMH Recognition in January 2013 and has continued to maintain this recognition through an annual renewal process.
“NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition raises the bar in defining high-quality care by emphasizing access, health information technology and coordinated care focused on patients,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Recognition shows that Salina Family Healthcare Center has the tools, systems and resources to provide its patients with the right care, at the right time.”
Dr. Robert Kraft, CEO of Salina Family Healthcare Center shares, “I am extremely pleased that we have received the NCQA’s highest level of recognition as a patient-centered medical home. We strive to be a center for learning and innovation and to achieve this recognition certainly validates those efforts. Every single person at Salina Family Healthcare plays an integral role in delivering patient-centered care; and as an organization, we are truly blessed to have such an incredible group of people committed to doing just that.”
“We are also fortunate and thankful for the support we receive from the medical community, and the community at large, that helps us to provide access to high-quality, patient-centered care regardless of one’s ability to pay while educating family physicians for Kansas.”
Salina Health Education Foundation, Inc. was founded in 1979 by Dr. Robert Brown as a community based, non-profit family medicine residency. The mission of the organization was, and in part remains, to train family physicians for rural Kansas.
Salina Cares was founded in 1991 as a free clinic to serve the low income uninsured of Salina. The residency program began providing resident physicians to staff Salina Cares in 1998. In early 2004, Salina Cares merged with SHEF and a new clinic name, Salina Family Healthcare Center (SFHC), was selected to reflect the long history of service to the community.
SFHC became a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) on December 1, 2004. Late in 2005, SFHC opened its dental office. In February 2009, SFHC began efforts to transform the practice into a patient-centered healthcare home and has since grown to now include urgent care, lab/x-ray, behavioral health, care coordination, and pharmacy services. Through this work, SHEF has recently redefined its mission “to serve our community at the crossroads of compassionate healthcare and professional education”. For more information, visit www.salinahealth.org.
