Annals of family medicine
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Annals of family medicine · Jul 2020
Multicenter StudyTransforming Primary Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: A Collaborative Quality Improvement Initiative.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people experience multiple disparities in access to care and health outcomes. We developed a quality improvement initiative, Transforming Primary Care for LGBT People, to enhance the capacity of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) to provide culturally affirming care for this population. ⋯ FQHCs participating in this initiative reported improved capacity to provide culturally affirming care and targeted screening for LGBT patients.
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Annals of family medicine · Jul 2020
Redesigning Primary Care to Address the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Midst of the Pandemic.
During a pandemic, primary care is the first line of defense. It is able to reinforce public health messages, help patients manage at home, and identify those in need of hospital care. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, primary care scrambled to rapidly transform itself and protect clinicians, staff, and patients while remaining connected to patients. ⋯ Throughout, practices bore tremendous financial burden, laying off staff or even closing at a time when most needed. Primary care must learn from this experience and be ready for the next pandemic. Policymakers and payers cannot fail primary care during their next time of need.