Group health cooperative's transformation toward patient-centered access.
The Institute of Medicine suggests redesigning health care to ensure safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care. The concept of patient-centered access supports these goals. Group Health, a mixed-model health care system, attempted to improve patients' access to care through the following changes: (a) offering a patient Web site with patient access to patient-physician secure e-mail, electronic medical records, and health promotion information; (b) offering advanced access to primary physicians; (c) redesigning primary care services to enhance care efficiency; (d) offering direct access to physician specialists; and (e) aligning primary physician compensation through incentives for patient satisfaction, productivity, and secure messaging with patients. In the 2 years following the redesign, patients reported higher satisfaction with certain aspects of access to care, providers reported improvements in the quality of service given to patients, and enrollment in Group Health stayed aligned with statewide trends in health care coverage.
Ralston
James D
JD
Center for Health Studies, Seattle, Washington, USA. ralston.j@ghc.org
Martin
Diane P
DP
Anderson
Melissa L
ML
Fishman
Paul A
PA
Conrad
Douglas A
DA
Larson
Eric B
EB
Grembowski
David
D
D000328:Adult; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D054626:Consumer Health Information; D034742:Electronic Mail; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007061:Idaho; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D033283:Patient Access to Records; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D010816:Physician Incentive Plans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014861:Washington