Aspire of WNY's Health Center located at 7 Community Drive in Cheektowaga is pleased to announce that they have been recognized by the National Commission for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH). Level 3 is the highest that Aspire could have received and we are proud of this achievement.

To achieve the PCMH three-year recognition, the Health Center utilized Electronic Medical Records (EMR) along with other great technology to assist in managing care. The PCMH is unique in providing a more intense primary care relationship. The NCQU describes the Patient Centered Medical Home as being a "health care setting that facilitates partnerships between individual patients and their personal physicians."

"While the Aspire Health Center predominantly serves developmentally disabled individuals, we have a multi-year planning effort to organize and improve in a manner consistent with primary care in general. We recently implemented Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to help achieve this great recognition of PCMH. The recognition and ideals are consistent with both the New York State Department of Health as well as National Health standards," said Tom Sy, executive director for Aspire of WNY.

In receiving the NCQA recognition, the Health Center providers met key standards in using patient registries, use of electronic systems, practice-wide quality measures and improvement efforts, screening referrals and follow-up as well as structured care for patients with chronic conditions.