Like others working at the intersection of public health and medicine, my faith in primary care has long been unshakeable. Increasingly actualized as the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH), primary care has experienced a decade plus of attention thanks to efforts at retooling and rebranding the field. But in the last week, a tiny crack formed… Read More »
Every physician fears being sued. Almost half of primary care doctors are subject to a malpractice lawsuit at some point in their careers. In some quarters, physicians are fatalistic about this fact. I have heard colleagues say: “It’s going to happen at some point, I know it.” But since the publication of the Institute of… Read More »
In my medical practice, lacking the tools to communicate meaningfully with other providers who are caring for my patients is a daily frustration. This is only magnified when it comes to caring for my most vulnerable patients who have difficulty communicating for themselves, such as those suffering from substance use disorders (SUDs), so I was… Read More »
With the mania of the presidential election in full tilt and the election just days away, it’s hard to have a rational public discussion about health care. Supporters of the two presidential candidates have drawn a deep and divisive line (or rather a tectonic fissure) in the sand about health care reform. This is due, in great part, to the bombastic, and ultimately… Read More »
Provider burnout and turnover [PDF] is a major challenge for many community health centers. One factor contributing to this problem is workplace climate, or what the experience of working at the health center is like. As anyone in primary care will tell you, at times it can be overwhelming. Thus it was with great interest that… Read More »
Last month, I left readers with a bit of cliffhanger: How do we actually improve care coordination? Last time, I suggested there were some great ideas, and now it’s time to delve into three promising strategies: 1) individualize and personalize the electronic medical record (EMR); 2. fix the hospital discharge process; and 3) make it a part of normal practice to measure care coordination. Read on for more about each of these tools…
Decades of thoughtful research into how we design health care systems has shown that primary care is essential. We know enough to confidently say that systems responsible for the overall health of patients (like health insurance plans or the Veterans Administration) that choose to skimp on primary care do so at their own peril. But in a time… Read More »
Support for patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) has been growing in recent years. A typical PCMH model includes a primary care physician supported by a multidisciplinary team, coordinated care, measurements of quality and safety, and enhanced access to same-day appointments. Preliminary program evaluations have shown that PCMHs can improve access and quality, but to date, there… Read More »