In 2013, the Blueprint continued to grow and strengthen a new health services model in all geographic regions or Health Service Areas (HSAs) in the state. There was a significant increase in the percentage of Vermonters with access to patient centered medical homes and community health teams between state fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

This increase demonstrates the success that the Blueprint has experienced working with stakeholders all over Vermont to implement a new health services model. This model includes:

• Advanced primary care practices that are recognized as patient centered medical homes (PCMHs) by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
• Multi-disciplinary core Community Health Teams (CHTs) and additional specialized care coordinators, which support PCMHs and provide the general and target population access to multi-disciplinary health services
• Evidence-based self-management programs to help citizens adopt healthier lifestyles and engage in preventive health services
• Multi-insurer payment reforms that fund PCMH transformation and community health teams
• Implementation of health information technology (HIT) to support health information exchange, guideline-based care, population management and comparative evaluation
• Multi-faceted evaluation system to determine the impacts of health care reform initiatives
• A Learning Health System that helps practices and community health teams plan and implement PCMH operations, and supports ongoing quality improvement and innovation.

A link to the Blueprint's 2013 Annual Report can be found here: Blueprint 2013 Annual Report

• The Agency of Human Services and all Departments
• Families and Individuals
• Health Care Providers
• Multi-disciplinary specialty/support programs
• All major insurers in Vermont
• State-wide data systems

The Blueprint program is intended to establish a statewide environment where Vermonters have better access to well-coordinated services that help them live healthier lifestyles, reduce the risk of developing common chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and hypertension, and improve control over existing conditions. If effective, the program should lead to several important outcomes, including an increase in the rate of Vermonters receiving recommended assessments and treatments, a reduction in avoidable acute care (emergency department visits and inpatient admissions), and a demonstration of predictable ways to improve control over the growth of healthcare costs.

Although this program is relatively new and still developing, the Blueprint 2013 Annual Report provides information on Vermont's progress towards those intended outcomes.

In addition to the core development of patient centered medical homes (PCMHs) and associated multi-disciplinary community health teams (CHTs) to improve the coordination of services, the Blueprint employs many strategies to move towards its intended outcomes. Those can be read about in more detail in the Blueprint 2013 Annual Report and include:

• Study groups
• Payment reform models
• Extended Community Health Teams
• Self-management support programs
• Learning Communities
• Learning Collaboratives