NCQA recognized
A Patient-Centered Medical Home, verified every year
PCMH stands for Patient-Centered Medical Home: a model of primary care where one practice knows you, is easy to reach, coordinates everything, and measures its own results. NCQA checks that we do all of it, with evidence, every year. Here is what that takes and what it means for your family.
In numbers
What NCQA recognition involves
- 39
- required core criteria, every one met
- 25
- elective credits across five of six areas
- Every year
- reporting to keep recognition
- 2 of 220
- Georgia practices recognized are in Alpharetta; we are one
Patient-Centered Medical Home
NCQA
Recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance for same-day access, care coordination, evidence-based care and tracking outcomes for every patient.
Verify (opens in new tab)Board-certified pediatrician, FAAP
American Board of Pediatrics · American Academy of Pediatrics
Dr. Viswanadham is board-certified in pediatrics and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Reach Out and Read partner
Reach Out and Read
A new book at every well visit from 6 months to 5 years, and guidance on reading aloud.
What it is
What “medical home” means
The idea comes from pediatrics. The American Academy of Pediatrics coined “medical home” in 1967 for children with special health care needs: one place that holds the whole record and the whole plan. The AAP defines it by seven words: accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective. It is not a building; it is a way of practicing.
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the non-profit that also accredits health plans, turned that idea into a measurable standard in 2008. Its Patient-Centered Medical Home program is the most widely used recognition of its kind: more than 8,900 practices and 53,000 clinicians across the United States hold it, and eleven states and many insurers reward practices that do.
Dare2Care Pediatrics holds NCQA PCMH recognition. Recognition is listed publicly in NCQA’s directory, where any family can check any practice.
The standard
The six areas NCQA evaluates, and what they look like here
| NCQA concept | What NCQA requires | What it looks like at Dare2Care Pediatrics |
|---|---|---|
| Team-based care and practice organization | A defined care team with clear roles, a clinician leading the medical home, staff training, and a written approach to involving families in the practice | Dr. Viswanadham and Adam Ayer lead a team that meets on patients with complex needs; every staff member has a role in the care plan, and families are asked how we can do better |
| Knowing and managing your patients | A complete record for every patient: diagnoses, medications, allergies, development, social needs, language; screening on schedule; a registry that shows who is due for what | Structured screening for development, autism, depression, social needs and lead risk; a registry that tells us which children are overdue for well visits, vaccines or follow-up, so we call you |
| Patient-centered access and continuity | Same-day appointments, timely phone and electronic responses, after-hours access to a clinician who can see your record, and continuity with a chosen provider | Same-day sick visits Monday to Friday, an after-hours provider on call, portal messages answered on business days, telehealth for established patients, and the same doctors from birth through 21 |
| Care management and support | Identifying children who need more support, written care plans made with the family, self-management help, and follow-up | Care plans for children with asthma, ADHD, autism, complex conditions and behavioral health needs; longer visits; medication management and the paperwork schools and programs require |
| Care coordination and care transitions | Tracking labs, imaging and referrals to completion; sharing information with specialists, hospitals and schools; managing transitions such as hospital discharge | Closed-loop referrals with a status you can ask about, results reviewed and communicated, hospital follow-up within days, and planned transition to adult care |
| Performance measurement and quality improvement | Measuring clinical quality, resource use, access and patient experience; setting goals; improving; reporting the results | Quarterly measures on immunization, well-visit and screening rates, access and family feedback, with improvement projects each year, reported to NCQA |
The process
How a practice earns recognition, and keeps it
Step 1: Enroll and self-assess
The practice enrolls in NCQA’s online system, Q-PASS, and works through every criterion against its own policies, workflows and data. Most practices need nine to twelve months to prepare.
Step 2: Build the evidence
Each criterion needs proof: written policies and procedures, reports pulled from the electronic record, screenshots of how the system is used, and data showing the work happens for every patient, not just once.
Step 3: Virtual reviews with an NCQA evaluator
Up to three screen-sharing sessions in which an NCQA evaluator examines the evidence live, asks how a process really works, and says what is missing. Nothing is taken on trust.
Step 4: Submit, and be decided
The practice submits the whole file for a recognition decision. Recognition is granted only when every core criterion is met and the elective credits are earned.
Step 5: Report every year
Since 2017 there is no three-year certificate. Every year the practice must attest, re-assess itself, and submit fresh data and documents across all six concepts, at least 30 days before its recognition date. Miss it and recognition lapses.
Why it is demanding
Why most practices do not do this
Recognition is not a plaque bought once. It is a written, auditable description of how a practice runs, checked against a national standard by an outside evaluator, and renewed with new evidence every single year. For a small independent practice that means a full-time commitment from the doctors and staff: documented policies for everything from after-hours calls to referral tracking, reports run and reviewed on a schedule, and quality measures that are honest even when they are unflattering.
That is why, in NCQA’s public directory on September 18, 2026, only 220 practices in Georgia held recognition. In Alpharetta there were two: Dare2Care Pediatrics and a Kaiser Permanente medical center. None were listed in Johns Creek, Roswell or Milton. We are one of very few independent pediatric practices in North Fulton and Forsyth counties that have done this work.
The evidence
What research shows medical homes do for families
| Finding | Where it was measured |
|---|---|
| Preventable emergency visits among children with chronic conditions fell from 17.4% to 12.7% | Massachusetts Medicaid children in 13 medical-home practices (Pediatric Quality & Safety, 2018) |
| 29% fewer emergency visits and 6% fewer hospitalizations, with lower total cost | Group Health medical home study, two-year results (Health Affairs, 2010) |
| Emergency use down 15% while it rose 4% in comparison practices; admissions down 18% | Colorado multi-payer medical home pilot (2012) |
| 51% of families could get a same-day appointment, against 13% in other practices | John A. Hartford Foundation survey, cited by NCQA |
| Staff burnout at 10% in medical-home clinics versus 30% in comparison clinics after one year | Group Health year-one evaluation (American Journal of Managed Care, 2009) |
| Every study reporting patient satisfaction found it improved | Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative evidence review of 45 studies (2017) |
For your family
What you notice as a patient here
You get in
Same-day sick visits every weekday, a clinician on call after hours who can see your child’s record, and messages answered.
Nothing falls through
Referrals, labs and imaging are tracked to a result you hear about. Hospital stays get a follow-up call and visit.
We call you
The registry tells us who is due for a well visit, a vaccine or a follow-up, so the reminders come from us, not from your memory.
One plan, in writing
Children with asthma, ADHD, autism or complex conditions have a written care plan that the family helped write and can read.
Your insurance notices too
Georgia Medicaid plans (CareSource, Peach State, Amerigroup) recognize NCQA medical homes in their quality programs, and Peach State requires it of its medical homes.
We measure ourselves
Immunization, screening and access rates are measured and reported every year. Ask us how we are doing; we will show you.
Questions
Questions about medical home recognition
Is PCMH the same as board certification?
No. Board certification is about an individual doctor’s training and knowledge. PCMH recognition is about how the whole practice runs: access, coordination, records, follow-up and measurement. Dr. Viswanadham is board-certified and the practice is NCQA-recognized; families benefit from both.
Does it cost me anything?
No. The practice pays NCQA’s fees and does the work. There is no charge to families and it does not change your copays.
How can I check that a practice is really recognized?
Search NCQA’s recognition directory by practice name or city. Recognition has an expiration date; a practice that has stopped reporting drops off.
Does being a medical home matter for Medicaid?
Yes. Georgia’s Medicaid care management organizations run quality and incentive programs built around NCQA medical-home recognition, and Georgia Medicaid families choose a primary care provider; a recognized medical home is designed to be that provider.
Do you have the behavioral health distinction?
We integrate behavioral health into primary care, which is the substance of NCQA’s Distinction in Behavioral Health Integration. Ask us about our current distinction status; we only claim what NCQA has verified.
Sources
Where this comes from
Checked September 18, 2026. NCQA: Patient-Centered Medical Home program, PCMH concepts, the recognition process, annual reporting, PCMH evidence and NCQA’s recognition directory. Criteria counts and program scale from NCQA’s March 2026 update memo. AAP: What is medical home. Studies: Reid et al., Health Affairs 2010; Reid et al., American Journal of Managed Care 2009; Kirby et al., Pediatric Quality & Safety 2018; Milbank Memorial Fund, PCPCC evidence report 2017. Georgia plans: CareSource PCP roles, Peach State medical home.
A medical home for your child
Call or text (770) 615-7000 to join, or read how we care for children with special needs, where the medical home matters most.