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Date
2015
Abstract
Objective: To assess patient barriers to Community Health Team (CHT) referrals at Hinesburg Family Practice.
Methods: Patients of Hinesburg Family Practice who were referred to the CHT by a physician and subsequently declined to be seen within the last 15 months were interviewed via telephone to assess what barriers prevented them from accessing CHT services. Twenty five patients were identified and called a minimum of 3 times using contact information obtained from the EHR. Eleven patients were contacted, one of whom had since followed through with the CHT. Responses from the ten patients who met the criteria and responded were generalized into major categories of: Inconvenience, Not interested, Already had services in place, Never called, and Never referred.
Results: Inconvenience (30%), Not interested (30%), and Already had services in place (20%) were the three biggest barriers to referral, accounting for 8 of the 10 responses.
Conclusions and Recommendations: The biggest patient barriers to CHT referral compliance are inconvenience, lack of interest, and already had services in place. These barriers can be assessed by physician when considering making a referral to the CHT, and referral should involve shared decision making with the patient. Physicians should also emphasize the role of the CHT as an extension of patient’s care by physician. It became clear when speaking with patients and CHT members that there exists a gap in patient knowledge with regard to services available through the CHT.
Keywords
Community Health Team, CHT, Patient Centered Medical Home, PCMH, Patient Barriers, Vermont
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Disciplines
Medical Education | Primary Care
Recommended Citation
Albertson, Benjamin Scott, "Assessing Patient Barriers to Community Health Team Referral" (2015). Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects. 65.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/65