A More Connected, Personalized Care Experience: Patient‑Centered Medical Home Evolves to Advanced Primary Care

MiBlue Daily

Sept. 16, 2026

Debbie Reinheimer

When your primary care team knows you, understands your health history, and designs your care plan around your personal needs, you stay healthier and spend less on healthcare. 

That’s the idea behind Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) program, a model of care that has been transforming how primary care is delivered across the state for nearly 20 years.

That transformation has been accelerating with the growth of Advanced Primary Care, a Blue Cross designation that recognizes a more comprehensive, proactive and personalized coordination of care approach that practice teams across Michigan are increasingly providing to their patients.

Blue Cross began its foundational PCMH designation program in 2009, working with physician organizations and primary care physicians.

A Patient‑Centered Medical Home is a care team led by a primary care provider that focuses on each patient’s health needs, and coordinates their health screenings, immunizations and preventive care. PCMH practices actively engage patients in their health care and help ensure these patients receive the right care, in the right setting, at the right time.

Over time, PCMH practice teams added support for patients’ behavioral health needs. Blue Cross created the Collaborative Care designation, for PCMH practices that integrate behavioral health directly into the primary care team. This helps patients quickly access treatment for anxiety, depression, or stress, and can reduce costs associated with untreated mental health conditions.

In recent years, Blue Cross has worked with physician organizations and primary care practices to expand the patient-centered care model to Advanced Primary Care (APC), the highest level of Blue Cross designation.

Practices earning APC designation have enhanced their care models by adding care management services in addition to their PCMH and Collaborative Care services. These practices have a strong focus on serving patients with multiple, chronic conditions, patients who are underserved, and patients who require ongoing coordination of services.