RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Primary Care’s Challenges and Responses in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From AHRQ’s Learning Community
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 76
OP 82
DO 10.1370/afm.2904
VO 21
IS 1
A1 Jenna T. Sirkin
A1 Elizabeth Flanagan
A1 Sebastian T. Tong
A1 Megan Coffman
A1 Robert J. McNellis
A1 Tracy McPherson
A1 Arlene S. Bierman
YR 2023
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/21/1/76.abstract
AB The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically disrupted health care systems and delivery in the United States. Despite emotional, psychological, logistical, and financial stress, primary care clinicians responded to the challenges that COVID-19 presented and continued to provide essential health services to their communities. As the lead federal agency for primary care research, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) identified a need to engage and support primary care in responding to COVID-19. AHRQ initiated a learning community from December 2020-November 2021 to connect professionals and organizations that support primary care practices and clinicians. The learning community provided a forum for participants to share learning and peer support, better understand the stressors and challenges confronting practices, ascertain needs, and identify promising solutions in response to the pandemic. We identified challenges, responses, and innovations that emerged through learning community engagement, information sharing, and dialog. We categorized these across 5 domains that reflect core areas integral to primary care delivery: patient-centeredness, clinician and practice, systems and infrastructure, and community and public health; health equity was crosscutting across all domains. The engagement of the community to identify real-time response and innovation in the context of a global pandemic has provided valuable insights to inform future research and policy, improve primary care delivery, and ensure that the community is better prepared to respond and contribute to ongoing and future health challenges.