PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Laura M. Gottlieb TI - Learning from Alma Ata: The Medical Home and Comprehensive Primary Health Care AID - 10.3122/jabfm.2009.03.080195 DP - 2009 May 01 TA - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine PG - 242--246 VI - 22 IP - 3 4099 - http://www.jabfm.org/content/22/3/242.short 4100 - http://www.jabfm.org/content/22/3/242.full SO - J Am Board Fam Med2009 May 01; 22 AB - The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recently has received much attention in health systems literature. The PCMH holds considerable promise for improving health outcomes and re-establishing a role for family medicine in a fragmented health care system. Despite its philosophical approach to comprehensive health care reform, the PCMH fails to offer concrete recommendations to address the social determinants of health, which include health and social policy. Political engagement to promote health is part of both primary health care and specifically family medicine's history; the absence of practical, adaptable ways to implement this engagement may undermine the PCMH's ultimate goals of improving individual and population health.