Improving the quality of telephone-delivered health care: a national quality improvement transformation initiative.

BACKGROUND: Many Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care (PC) patients prefer telephone-delivered care to other health care delivery modalities. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate PC patients' telephone experiences and outcomes before and after a national telephone transformation quality improvement (QI) collaborative. METHODS: Cross-sectional surveys were conducted pre- and post-collaborative. We used bivariate analyses to assess differences in pre/post outcomes and multivariate regression to identify variables associated with patients' perceptions of poor quality care. RESULTS: Patients from 13 VA facilities participated (n = 730; pre-intervention = 314, post-intervention = 416); most of them were males (90%) with a mean age of 62 years. After the collaborative (versus pre-collaborative), few experienced transfers (52% versus 62%, P = 0.0006) and most reported timely call answer (88% versus 80%, P = 0.003). Improvements in staff understanding why patients were calling and providing needed medical information were also found. There were measurable improvements in patient satisfaction (87% versus 82% very/mostly satisfied, P = 0.04) and perceived quality of telephone care (85% versus 78% excellent/good quality, P = 0.01) post- collaborative. The proportion of veterans who reported delayed care due to telephone access issues decreased from 41% to 15% after the collaborative, P < 0.0001. Perceptions of poor quality care were higher when calls were for urgent care needs did not result in receipt of needed information and included a transfer or untimely answer. CONCLUSIONS: The QI collaborative led to improvements in timeliness of answering calls, patient satisfaction and perceptions of high-quality telephone care and fewer reports of health care delays. Barriers to optimal telephone care 'quality' include untimely answer, transfers, non-receipt of needed information and urgent care needs.

Taking a patient safety approach to an integration of two hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Consolidation of inpatient care between two acute care medical centers brings many challenges, including an increased risk of an untoward event during patient transfer and impaired hospital performance during the postintegration period. When the Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in Chicago integrated two acute medical-surgical inpatient facilities, the challenges intrinsic to simultaneously integrating acute medical-surgical programs and academic training programs necessitated a novel approach. STRATEGIES USED: Several patient safety-related tools were used for the safe transfer of patients and for sustaining hospital performance after integration. These tools included Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) of the move process, process action teams to bridge the differences in standard nursing unit operation, and an integration score card to monitor and evaluate the impact of the integration on organization performance. RESULTS: Patient care was not disrupted except for a transient reduction in elective surgical procedures during the week before the move. Postintegration data indicated reduced operating room cancellations, sustained inpatient capacity and access, and comparable findings in patient falls and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci infections. CONCLUSION: The impact of several patient safety tools and interventions was reflected in the fact that performance remained constant or improved for the predefined measures of access and quality.

Optimizing primary care telephone access and patient satisfaction.

Telephone medicine is often preferred by patients to meet primary care needs and may be associated with high patient satisfaction. This article presents findings about incoming patient calls to primary care for medically based reasons during office hours and reports factors independently associated with telephone encounter satisfaction, considering patient characteristics, call reasons, and staff responsiveness, for a national cohort of primary care users. Interviews were conducted with patients from 18 nationwide primary care clinics during the fall of 2009. Calling for an urgent medical issue was associated with dissatisfaction. Odds of call satisfaction were greater when patients thought staff was friendly (10×), call answer was timely (5×), and needed medical information was provided (7×). These findings can be used for interventions to optimize telephone access and patient satisfaction which is beneficial because satisfactory telephone encounters reduce primary care use and satisfied patients are more likely to be engaged in their health care.

Understanding health care communication preferences of veteran primary care users.

OBJECTIVE: To assess veterans' health communication preferences (in-person, telephone, or electronic) for primary care needs and the impact of computer use on preferences. METHODS: Structured patient interviews (n=448). Bivariate analyses examined preferences for primary care by 'infrequent' vs. 'regular' computer users. RESULTS: Only 54% were regular computer users, nearly all of whom had ever used the internet. 'Telephone' was preferred for 6 of 10 reasons (general medical questions, medication questions and refills, preventive care reminders, scheduling, and test results); although telephone was preferred by markedly fewer regular computer users. 'In-person' was preferred for new/ongoing conditions/symptoms, treatment instructions, and next care steps; these preferences were unaffected by computer use frequency. Among regular computer users, 1/3 preferred 'electronic' for preventive reminders (37%), test results (34%), and refills (32%). CONCLUSION: For most primary care needs, telephone communication was preferred, although by a greater proportion of infrequent vs. regular computer users. In-person communication was preferred for reasons that may require an exam or visual instructions. About 1/3 of regular computer users prefer electronic communication for routine needs, e.g., preventive reminders, test results, and refills. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: These findings can be used to plan patient-centered care that is aligned with veterans' preferred health communication methods.