Annals of family medicine
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Annals of family medicine · Sep 2022
Community Health Workers as Trust Builders and Healers: A Cohort Study in Primary Care.
Improving patients' self-care for chronic disease is often elusive in the context of social deprivation. We evaluated whether a practice-integrated community health worker (CHW) intervention could encourage effective long-term self-management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). ⋯ Practice-linked CHWs can sustainably engage vulnerable patients, helping them advance self-management goals in the context of formidable social disadvantage.
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Annals of family medicine · Sep 2022
Using State All-Payer Claims Data to Identify the Active Primary Care Workforce: A Novel Study in Virginia.
Primary care is the foundation of the health care workforce and the only part that extends life and improves health equity. Previous research on the geographic and specialty distribution of physicians has relied on the American Medical Association's Masterfile, but these data have limitations that overestimate the workforce. ⋯ Our novel method of identifying active physicians with a primary care scope provides a realistic size of the primary care workforce in Virginia, smaller than some previous estimates. Although the method should be expanded to include advanced practice clinicians and to further delineate the scope of practice, this simple approach can be used by policy makers, payers, and planners to ensure adequate primary care capacity.