Training family medicine residents to build and remodel a patient centered medical home in Rhode Island: a team based approach to PCMH education.

Primary Care practices in the United States are undergoing rapid transformation into Patient Centered Medical Homes (PCMHs), prompting a need to train resident physicians in this new model of primary care. However, few PCMH curricula are described or evaluated in the literature. We describe the development and implementation of an innovative, month-long, team-based, block rotation, integrated into the Brown Family Medicine Residency Program, within the context of statewide PCMH practice transformation in Rhode Island. The PCMH resident team (first-, second- and third-year residents) gain PCMH skills, with progressive levels of responsibility through residency. In addition to traditional supervised direct outpatient care, learning activities include: active participation in PCMH transformation projects, population health level patient management, quality improvement activities, interdisciplinary teamwork, chronic disease management (including leading group medical visits), and PCMH specific didactics paired with weekly projects. This new clinical block rotation and team holds promise as a model to train residents for future PCMH primary care practices.