Care Coordination in Primary Care: Views of Clinicians and Clinic Leaders

Care coordination is an important strategy for addressing patient needs and improving outcomes of care.

The Minnesota Care Coordination Effectiveness Study sought to better understand the perspectives and experiences of clinicians/clinic leaders regarding the value, barriers, and facilitators for care coordination in primary care.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 clinic managers, physicians, and advanced practice clinicians. Data were analyzed using a directed content analysis approach.

Five themes arose in the interviews: financial issues were perceived as a primary barrier to care coordination; participants valued care coordination as an important asset; they employed significant variation in how care coordination was structured; they identified both medical and social needs of patients as important; and care coordinators' background, experience, and integration were viewed as critical to program success.

Care coordination received strong support from clinicians and clinic leaders who viewed it as a valuable component of successful care delivery.