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Your High-Quality Medical Home

Transforming Lives... Transforming the Health Care System

PCHC cares enough about you to measure the quality of the care we provide. This means you feel better sooner!

PCHC is a top quality health care organization that has received multiple national awards and recognition. In fact, Penobscot Community Health Care has been regionally and nationally recognized as a leader among the nation's Community Health Centers. PCHC has been repeatedly cited for our quality of care, patient outcomes, and technological leadership. The list of these accolades includes:

Joint Commission Accreditation in Ambulatory Care and Laboratory means that Penobscot Community Health Care has been recognized for complying with rigorous national performance standards that promote quality healthcare delivery. PCHC is the only community health center in Maine to have achieved this distinction. In addition, PCHC was recently certified by the Joint Commission as a Joint Commission Primary Care Medical Home. We are only 1 of 11 health care organizations in the United States and the first in New England to receive this certification!

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Patient Centered Medical Home Certification 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 other organizations. Building on the joint principles developed by the primary care specialty societies, the PPC®-PCMH™ standards emphasize the use of systematic, patient-centered, coordinated care management processes.

NCQA Evidence Based Medicine Certification in diabetes and heart/stroke was developed in conjunction with the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA). This voluntary program is designed to recognize physicians and other clinicians, who use evidence-based measures and provide excellent care to their patients with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. This award goes to providers who care for these patients and PCHC has several providers who have been awarded this honor.

Healthcare Equality Index: PCHC was named a top performer in the Healthcare Equality Index, an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation. PCHC earned top marks for its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients and employees and Penobscot Community Health Care was one of just a handful of healthcare facilities nationwide to be named a top performer. PCHC is the first healthcare facility in Maine to earn this distinction.

Maine Patient Centered Medical Home Pilot Project: The Maine Quality Forum (MQF), Quality Counts, and the Maine Health Management Coalition selected 3 PCHC practices for the Maine Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Pilot Project as a first step in ultimately achieving the goal of statewide implementation of a patient centered medical home model across Maine. Practices will be expected to implement a set of ten core expectations addressing key practice changes.

Get Better Maine is a rating system to evaluate practices developed by the Maine Health Management Coalition. Three PCHC practices received Better or Best designations in Diabetes Care, Heart Disease Care, and Systems to track test results, send reminders, and avoid medication errors.

In addition to these awards PCHC has been designated by the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) as one of 2011’s “Teaching Health Center” as part of the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program. PCHC was one of only 11 Community Health Centers in the US to receive this award in 2011. As a Teaching Health Center, PCHC provides four residency programs (post university training) as well as multiple educational programs. In 2011, over 250 students of medical professions had experiences at PCHC. Educational Programs administered by PCHC include:

General Practice Dental Residency, accredited through the American Dental Association has expanded to education 6 residents a year.

Pediatric Dental Residency, two-year accredited program, sponsored by Lutheran Medical Center, opened July 2011 with four residents; eight in 2012.

N urse Practitioner Residency, one year residency for two NPs in 2011, four in 2012, and six in 2013. Funded by HRSA. One of only a dozen NP Residencies in the US.

Community Pharmacy Residency, one resident, July 2011, three residents 2012. These Residents who have already graduated from Pharmacy School with a Pharm-D degree work as part of our care teams to help the patients with their expertise.

Physician Assistant Intensive Second Year Internship Program with University of New England (UNE), year-long, funded by HRSA, in collaboration with St. Joseph Hospital opening at PCHC in June 2012.

Eastern Maine Area Health Education Center, over 320 health professionals receive interdisciplinary training a year at PCHC: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, social workers, counselors, dentists, hygienists, physical therapists, nurses, medical assistants, x-ray techs, others.

CME program, PCHC is accredited to dispense continuing medical education credits and in 2011 sponsored 245 CME programs for providers.

If you were able to visit every one of the 1250 federally supported community health centers in the nation, I don’t think you would find more than a handful of centers with the range and scope of quality achievements and educational offerings that exists here in Bangor at Penobscot Community Health Care.

Penobscot Community Health Care is a high quality healthcare program that delivers preventive, acute, and chronic medical and dental care to all people regardless of their ability to pay.