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Assessing Patient Satisfaction in Direct Primary Healthcare: A Rural Community Health Initiative
Batchu, Kartheek
Batchu, Kartheek
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In rural Newport, Vermont, a designated Health Professional Shortage Area, access to affordable primary care is limited, contributing to higher healthcare costs and poorer outcomes. This Community Health Improvement Project evaluated patient satisfaction with Blue Spruce Health’s direct primary care model, which minimizes insurance reliance to enhance accessibility and care quality. A 20-question survey was distributed to patients across three locations (Newport, St. Johnsbury, Williston), assessing demographics, communication, value, insurance-based system comparisons, satisfaction, and marketing testimonials. Interviews with Dr. Umair Malik and Chelsea Hamel, RN, highlighted direct care’s benefits, including reduced bureaucracy and increased patient interaction time. Initial survey results suggest high satisfaction with accessibility and care quality, potentially guiding service expansions (e.g., in-house diagnostics) to reduce external healthcare reliance. The project faced challenges like small sample size and response bias from self-selecting participants. Future efforts could expand the survey and quantify cost savings. This initiative, aligned with the AHEC focus area of Medical Practice Transformation, demonstrates direct primary care’s potential to address rural healthcare shortages, lower costs, and improve patient outcomes, offering a scalable model for underserved communities.
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2025-01-01
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KartheekBatchu_ScholarWorks.pdf
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