• Margot Wilson, Garey Mazowita, Andrew Ignaszewski, Adeera Levin, Clay Barber, David Thompson, Sandra Barr, Scott Lear, and Robert D Levy.
• Director of the Chronic Disease Management Strategy at Providence Health Care in Vancouver, BC. mwilson@providencehealth.bc.ca.
• Can Fam Physician. 2016 Nov 1; 62 (11): e668e676e668-e676.

Problem AddressedTimely access to specialist care is an important issue for patients with mild to moderate symptoms, and wait times for referrals are currently quite long.Objective Of ProgramTo provide FPs with quick telephone access to other specialists for treatment advice for patients with nonserious conditions that they would otherwise refer to specialist care.Program DescriptionThe RACE (Rapid Access to Consultative Expertise) program is a telephone hot-line providing FPs and nurse practitioners in the Vancouver, BC, area with timely access to specialist consultations. An evaluation of data from RACE found 60% of RACE calls prevented patients from visiting a specialist and 32% of calls prevented FP referrals to hospital emergency departments.ConclusionSupported by RACE, FPs can more effectively remain the locus of patient care, calling on other specialist expertise when appropriate and providing better coordination of care for their patients. Evaluations to date suggest RACE helps reduce system costs by reducing unnecessary emergency department visits and face-to-face specialist consultations.Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

21 keywords...

hide…