What is the NCQA and How Does it Impact Your Practice?
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Physician Recognition Programs identify and recognize physicians who deliver quality care and use standards firmly rooted in medical evidence. In 2008, NCQA released standards for Physician Practice Connections®-Patient-Centered Medical Home™ (PPC®-PCMH™) with input from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American College of Physicians (ACP), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). This program builds upon NCQA's current Physician Practice Connections program to identify primary care practices that function as patient-centered medical homes.
As of January 2011, NCQA has updated their medical home recognition program with new standards and must-pass elements. The PCMH 2011 survey tool was released March 28, 2011.
The Building Your Medical Home toolkit and its six progressive Medical Home 'Building Blocks' include content and tools available to help you improve care while meeting the recognition standards. Tools and related information can be used as they are provided or adapted to meet the needs of your practice. This toolkit crosswalks with NCQA's 2008 PCMH standards as well as the 2011 NCQA PCMH standards.
Many private and public health plans and employers are considering projects to recognize and compensate practices as patient-centered medical homes. Where select demonstration programs are in place, practices earning NCQA PCMH recognition may qualify for additional payment.
There are nine PPC®-PCMH™ standards, including 10 "must pass elements," 
which can result in one of three levels of recognitionin the 2008 version. There are six PCMH 2011 standards, including six must pass elements, which can result in one of three levels of recognition. Practices seeking recognition complete a Web-based data collection tool from NCQA and provide documentation which validates their responses.
To help practices with the NCQA PCMH recognition process, this toolkit identifies how each Medical Home 'Building Block' corresponds with the 2008 NCQA PPC®-PCMH™ and PCMH 2011 'must pass' elements, with practical tools and resources: