Telephone Access Management in Primary Care: Cross-Case Analysis of High-Performing Primary Care Access Sites.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Primary care telephone access has been associated with patient satisfaction and emergency department utilization even after accounting for objective appointment wait times. However, relatively little is known about how to best structure and manage telephone access in primary care.

Objective

Assess how primary care telephone access is structured and managed and explore how variation in telephone management may affect primary care teams and patients.

Design

We used 2016 administrative and patient survey data to select six Veterans Administration medical centers (VAMCs) with above-average primary care access (time to third next available appointment) but variable patient-reported access, geographic region, and urbanicity. Semi-structured interviews were conduc

SUBMITTER: Chuang E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8806007 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature