Partnering with patients to improve access to primary care

Area of Science:

• Primary Care
• Health Services Research
• Patient Engagement

Background:

• Continuity and timely access are vital for high-quality primary care, especially for urgent after-hours concerns.
• Urban settings present challenges to after-hours primary care continuity due to convenient walk-in clinics.
• Patients reported difficulties accessing after-hours care from their primary care team, leading to reliance on external services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address challenges in accessing after-hours primary care in an urban setting.
• To improve patient access to their primary care team during evenings, weekends, and holidays.
• To enhance patient satisfaction with after-hours care services.

Main Methods:

• Employed the Model for Improvement combined with Experience-Based Design methodology.
• Conducted a root cause analysis incorporating patient feedback through various capture tools.
• Implemented two Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles focused on redesigning after-hours advertisements and communication strategies.

Main Results:

• Increased awareness of weekday evening clinics by 26%, weekend clinics by 23%, and after-hours phone services by 17%.
• Achieved a 16% increase in patients reporting ease of access to care from their team during after-hours periods.
• Sustained improvements in access and patient satisfaction for three years post-intervention.

Conclusions:

• Patient-provider partnerships are effective in improving primary care access.
• The Model for Improvement and Experience-Based Design are valuable methodologies for enhancing healthcare services.
• Strategic redesign of communication and advertising can significantly improve patient utilization of after-hours primary care services.