Faculty Articles

Title

Patient Experience in Health Center Medical Homes

ISBN or ISSN

0094-5145

Publication Title

Journal of Community Health

Publication Date / Copyright Date

6-1-2015

Abstract

The Human Resource and Services Administration, Bureau of Primary Health Care Health Center program was developed to provide comprehensive, community-based quality primary care services, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of medically underserved populations. Health Centers have been leaders in adopting innovative approaches to improve quality care delivery, including the patient centered medical home (PCMH) model. Engaging patients through patient experience assessment is an important component of PCMH evaluation and a vital activity that can help drive patient-centered quality improvement initiatives. A total of 488 patients from five Health Center PCMHs in south Florida were surveyed in order to improve understanding of patient experience in Health Center PCMHs and to identify quality improvement opportunities. Overall patients reported very positive experience with patient-centeredness including being treated with courtesy and respect (85 % responded "always") and communication with their provider in a way that was easy to understand (87.7 % responded "always"). Opportunities for improvement included patient goal setting, referrals for patients with health conditions to workshops or educational programs, contact with the Health Center via phone and appointment availability. After adjusting for patient characteristics, results suggest that some patient experience components may be modified by educational attainment, years of care and race/ethnicity of patients. Findings are useful for informing quality improvement initiatives that, in conjunction with other patient engagement strategies, support Health Centers' ongoing transformation as PCMHs.

Disciplines

Medical Specialties | Medicine and Health Sciences | Osteopathic Medicine and Osteopathy

File Exists

nc570/intellcont/patient experience published-1.pdf

Conference material published in Proceedings

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