- Despite California’s population becoming increasingly diverse, the current health workforce has yet to reflect these demographic shifts; however, Nurse Practitioners (NPs) play a critical role in addressing gaps in primary care access across the state. In 2023, California implemented new…
- Improving access to midwifery care has been identified as a strategy to address shortages of reproductive health clinicians and ensure person-centered, equitable care. This article describes findings from a new survey of licensed midwives (LMs) in California, who enter the profession without a…
- Standardizing and improving the treatment that Medicare beneficiaries living with dementia receive requires understanding the settings where they are receiving care, the types of clinicians providing that care, and whether clinicians recognize the diagnosis of dementia in their encounters with…
- More than 83 million people in the United States live in primary care shortage areas. As the US healthcare system faces a contracting primary care physician workforce, advanced practice providers are playing an increasingly important role in the delivery of primary care services. In parallel,…
- Improving care coordination for people living with dementia (PLWD) requires understanding of the types of clinicians delivering care and the settings in which they practice. We identified all beneficiaries with dementia in traditional Medicare in 2019. We used the Medicare Carrier file — i.e…
- Nurse practitioners (NPs) are important providers of primary care to underserved populations, particularly in areas with lower physician supply. In 2023, California implemented new regulations aimed at improving access to care, especially primary care services, by providing a pathway for NPs to…
- The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly reshaped health care delivery, notably with a surge in telehealth use driven by changes in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. The ensuing wave of research, spanning over 80 studies from 2021 to 2022, explored the impact of telehealth on health outcomes and care…
- In 2017, the San Francisco Cancer Initiative (SF CAN) established the Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening Program to provide technical assistance and financial support to improve CRC screening processes, and outcomes in a consortium of community health centers (CHCs) serving low-income communities in…
- Older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) often face burdensome end-of-life care transfers. Advanced practice clinicians (APCs), which include nurse practitioners and physician assistants, increasingly provide primary care to this population. To fill current gaps in the…
- As experience with social risk interventions matures, and federal and state agencies consider ways to incentivize social risk interventions, this is an ideal time to pause and ask whether we are going in the right direction with this work. In this perspective piece, the authors highlight that the…
- In California, one of the most culturally diverse states in the country, health care must bridge cultural and linguistic divides to serve all communities equitably. As trusted community members with lived experience, community health workers and promotores (CHW/Ps) have a long history of connecting…
- This report reviews the use of teledentistry following the COVID-19 pandemic in 4 states—California, Maine, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—and the supports needed to enhance dental care in a post-COVID-19 world. States were selected for case studies based on the following parameters: existence of…
- The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented adoption and implementation of virtual primary care services, and little is known about whether and how virtual care services will be provided after the pandemic ends. We aim to identify how administrators at health care organizations perceive the…
- Primary care practices are responding to calls to incorporate patients' social risk factors, such as housing, food, and economic insecurity, into clinical care. Healthcare likely relies on the expertise and resources of community-based organizations to improve patients' social conditions, yet…
- There are concerns about the capacity of rural primary care due to potential workforce shortages and patients with disproportionately more clinical and socioeconomic risks. Little research examines the configuration and delivery of primary care along the spectrum of rurality. We aimed to compare…
- Background Peer support providers (peers) are increasingly delivering behavioral health treatment, but evaluation of their impact on client outcomes remains limited. Prior studies to determine the effectiveness of peers identify inconsistent training requirements and role definition as barriers to…
- In 2016, the California Department of Health Care Services launched the Dental Transformation Initiative (DTI) to address statewide underperformance in providing dental services to Medicaid-eligible children and youth. The DTI allowed selected counties and other qualified organizations to create…
- Health care organizations increasingly recognize the impact of social needs on health outcomes. As organizations develop and scale efforts to address social needs, little is known about the optimal role for clinicians in providing social care. In this study, the authors aimed to understand how…
- Objective Some health systems and emergency medical services agencies in the United States are leveraging the versatility and experience of community paramedics to meet needs for COVID-19 testing, care, and vaccination. This report describes models of community paramedic practice that communities…
- Kalisch and colleagues developed one of the reliable and valid measures of missed nursing care, the MISSCARE survey, which has been used extensively in medical surgical care and has been adapted to pediatric and neonatal intensive care. Our team previously adapted the MISSCARE Survey for…
- Health care organizations face growing pressure to improve their patients’ social conditions, such as housing, food, and economic insecurity. Little is known about the motivations and concerns of health care organizations when implementing activities aimed at improving patients’ social conditions.…
- Dental therapists (DTs) are primary care dental providers, used globally, and were introduced in the United States (US) in 2005. DTs have now been adopted in 13 states and several Tribal nations. This study aimed to qualitatively examine the drivers and outcomes of the US dental therapy movement…
- Although many factors contribute to the high prevalence of oral health problems and widening disparities in the U.S., limited oral health literacy has emerged as a major contributor. Oral health literacy (OHL) refers to people’s abilities to access, understand and use oral health information to…
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) State Innovation Models (SIMs) initiative funded 17 states to implement health care payment and delivery system reforms to improve health system performance. This study aimed to evaluate SIMs role in improved health information…
- Approximately 1 in 5 U.S. adults experienced a mental illness in the past year, a number that is expected to rise amid a shortage of mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) providers. One way to address this growing need for behavioral health services is through the use of peer…
- Poor oral health, and biological impact of oral disease, affects a person's general health and well-being. Using electronic dental health record data to identify high-risk dental caries patients coupled with a new oral health team member, the dental care advocate (DCA) facilitated the dental…
- Care coordination is a key strategy used to improve health outcomes and efficiency, yet there are limited examples in dentistry. A large dental accountable care organization piloted care coordination by retraining existing administrative staff to coordinate the care of high-risk patients. Following…
- This article examines the relationship between federal regulations, state scope-of-practice regulations on nurse practitioners (NPs), and buprenorphine prescribing patterns using pharmacy claims data from Optum’s deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart between January 2015 and September 2018. The…
- Community health workers (CHWs) are an increasingly important member of the healthcare and public health professions who help build primary care capacity. Yet, in spite of the exponential growth of CHW interventions, CHW training programs, and CHW certification and credentialing by state agencies,…
- Care plans are an evidence-based strategy, encouraged by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and are used to manage the care of patients with complex health needs that have been shown to lead to lower hospital costs and improved patient outcomes. Providers participating in payment…