The Effect of Primary Care Team Realignment on Point-of-Care Screening.

Publication/Presentation Date

4-1-2019

Abstract

Reporting primary care quality measures is an essential component of value-based care delivery and is part of the strategy to bend the health care cost curve. As primary care physicians are increasingly pressed for time, incorporating ancillary staff screening into pre-visit workflows can increase screening rates, but can pose a challenge in large practice settings. The objective was to improve screening rates for depression and falls risk at a large, urban primary care practice. Jefferson Family Medicine Associates is a practice in downtown Philadelphia that serves 35,000 patients and provides approximately 80,000 visits annually. The majority of patients are African American. Screening responsibilities were realigned within medical assistant workflows, and a training program was designed and implemented to ensure its success and sustainability. Monthly Group Practice Reporting Option data on depression screening and falls risk screening was collected from January 1, 2015, to October 31, 2016. The primary outcome measures were the rate of depression screening and falls risk screening performed for patients who had a visit during the study period. The average monthly depression screening rate changed from 1.41% pre intervention to 49.77% post intervention (z = -100.65; P < .001). The average monthly falls screening rate changed from 19.23% pre intervention to 61.33% post intervention (z = -77.97, P < .001). This workflow redesign, training model, and implementation was successful at increasing screening rates for depression and falls risk, and may benefit other practices that hope to accomplish similar quality measure improvements.

Volume

22

Issue

2

First Page

108

Last Page

112

ISSN

1942-7905

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences

PubMedID

30016202

Department(s)

Department of Medicine

Document Type

Article

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