RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Advancing Primary Care through a Model Unit for Innovative Practice Enhancement
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 6428
DO 10.1370/afm.22.s1.6428
VO 22
IS Supplement 1
A1 Paul, Margaret
A1 Matthews, Marc
A1 Greaney, Gerry
A1 Wallenstein, Deanne
A1 Greenwood, Jason
A1 Eckdahl, Jonathan
A1 Spaulding, Tony
A1 Pecina, Jennifer
A1 Rushlow, David
YR 2024
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/22/Supplement_1/6428.abstract
AB Context: The Mayo Clinic Department of Family Medicine undertook a rigorous 2-year multistage planning process to establish a Model Unit (MU) to facilitate the implementation of innovative care approaches and related evaluations of their impacts on access to care, quality and clinical outcomes, and provider and staff satisfaction among other measures.Objective: The overarching objective of the MU is to enhance the delivery of high-quality care to a broader patient population.Study Design and Analysis: The planning structures of the MU comprised three multidisciplinary groups: 1) a stakeholder advisory group tasked with providing overarching guidance; 2) a design committee responsible for identifying avenues for innovative structural and procedural enhancements and crafting an implementation strategy; and 3) a research committee charged with pinpointing essential outcomes and monitoring performance indicators.Setting or Dataset: Data includes secondary data gathered through Epic electronic medical records system as well as primary data collected from physicians, APPs, and staff working in the MU.Population Studied: The populations included in our research are providers and staff working in the MU and aggregated data on patients seen at the MU practice.Intervention/Instrument: In its first phase, the MU incorporated three interventions tailored specifically to its context: nurse-led hypertension management, integration of blocks of telehealth consultations into routine clinician schedules, and a pilot of an ambient documentation system to supplant clinician-generated visit notes.Outcome Measures: Our evaluation is focused on intervention-specific measures (e.g., the proportion of telehealth visits was a key outcome for the telehealth consultation intervention) as well as overall measures of practice functioning that are not specific to any one intervention (e.g., measures of provider and staff satisfaction).Results: We observed an increase in telehealth visits from 4% to 9% and uptake of ambient documentation by 9 of 10 providers during a pilot period. We identified barriers to nurse-led hypertension management and the design team continues to work with practice leadership to facilitate the implementation of this important intervention.Conclusions: The MU approach represents a generalizable and feasible strategy for practice enhancement, focusing on the identification and implementation of incremental, contextually relevant modifications.