Which statement best describes a PCMH feature?

• A. A care-delivery model
• B. Accreditation/Certification process
• C. Financial penalties for non-cooperation
• D. None of the above

Answer: (B)

Focusing on how a Patient-Centered Medical Home is recognized in practice helps explain why accreditation or certification is described as a PCMH feature. A PCMH is a care-delivery approach that aims to provide comprehensive, patient-centered, coordinated, and accessible care with a team-based approach. To ensure practices truly embody these principles, recognized bodies (such as NCQA-style programs) require them to undergo an accreditation or certification process. This process assesses whether the practice has implemented the required structures and processes—like care coordination, enhanced access, and quality improvement—so that a practice can be officially designated as a PCMH. That formal recognition mechanism is what many see as a defining feature, because it validates that the practice meets established PCMH standards.

The option describing PCMH as a care-delivery model is true, but it doesn’t capture the explicit mechanism by which a practice earns and demonstrates PCMH status. Financial penalties for non-cooperation aren’t a defining PCMH feature, and “none of the above” isn’t correct because there is indeed an accreditation/certification aspect that typically accompanies PCMH recognition.