New health professions education and training models should integrate with health reform measures aimed at insurance coverage, delivery systems, payment systems, and accountability for quality. Examples include the Medical Home and the Health Commons models of care delivery, which combine medical, behavioral, oral, and public health with services to address social determinants of disease, as well as Accountable Care Organizations, which create service delivery and education models that integrate and coordinate care. These new models of care delivery create new opportunities to provide—and be reimbursed—for more team-based care.
Training institutions have an unprecedented opportunity to take a leadership role in meaningful reform for the fiscal and quality outcomes of the health of the population served and the preparation and ongoing education of the health professionals who provide that care. Though there is nothing in the pending legislation that would actually change the training health providers receive—that will be left up to the academic institutions and hospitals—both the House and Senate bills provide funding to start and expand primary care Medical Homes and Accountable Care Organizations in an attempt to provide better coordinated primary care, especially for those with chronic illnesses.
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