J Am Board Fam Med
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Home-based primary care (HBPC) has shown promise in the management of multiple chronic conditions for patients who are homebound or who have limited mobility. The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate an HBPC program that integrates the services of clinical pharmacists and community aging services providers in a community-based setting. ⋯ Pharmacist and community agency services-integrated HBPC was implemented in the community setting. There was a decrease in high-cost health care utilization and total health care expenditures for patients as compared with the previous year.
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A family physician who has long tried to prevent patients from falling victim to health scams and disinformation recently confronted an unexpected challenge of his own.
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Despite antiviral agents that can cure the disease, many individuals with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) remain untreated. Primary care clinicians can play an important role in HCV treatment but often feel they do not have the requisite skills. ⋯ A multifaceted primary care improvement initiative increased clinician confidence and was associated with an increase in the proportion of HCV RNA positive patients who initiated curative treatment.
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The National Academies of Medicine report on Implementing High-Quality Primary Care calls for a transformation of the primary care to a "whole person" model that is person-centered, relationship-based and takes into account the social, spiritual, emotional and behavioral aspects of health. However, our current delivery tools, such as the SOAP Note, do not sufficiently capture and organize the delivery of these elements in practice. To explore how to remedy this, an Integrative Health Learning Collaborative (IHLC) was established to implement and test new tools for changing primary care practices toward whole person care. ⋯ This online learning collaborative supported practices implementing a whole person care model in primary care and improved the understanding, skills, and delivery ability of whole person care in all clinics completing the program.