National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition is suboptimal even among innovative primary care practices.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has promoted patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recognition among primary care practices since 2008 as a standard indicator of which practices have transformed into medical homes. A 40% PCMH adoption rate among a large national cohort of identified practices with innovative staffing (n = 131) calls into question whether the NCQA recognition process is truly transformative and patient-centered or simply another certificate to hang on the wall.