Coordinated and Integrated

Properly coordinated patient care leads to greater patient safety and better outcomes. This resource provides information on why care coordination is so important and how it can be incorporated in to practice. It also includes links to resources for measures of care coordination.

This study looks at team dynamics and care coordination. Better team dynamics were associated with better clinician satisfaction and improved care coordination. Addressing collaboration and teamwork could help practices improve clinician satisfaction and lead to better outcomes.

This analysis looks at practices that integrate primary care and behavioral health. They found five key constructs that influence this integration. 1) Integration reach; 2) establishment of continuum of care pathways addressing the location of care across the range of patient's severity of illness; 3) approach to patient transitions; 4) location of the integration workforce; and 5) participants' mental model for integration. These constructs can be utilized by practices looking to integrate behavioral health into their primary care services.

This study researched primary care teams and their impact on care transitions. It found that practices with strong physician leadership had improved team functioning in care transitions. Conclusions of the study suggested that healthcare reform efforts that emphasize integrated care teams will lead to enhanced teamwork and improved transitions, which will help to achieve the quadruple aim.