Primary Care Transformation
Our Primary Care Transformation work fosters meaningful change to systems and processes that impact patients’ health status, health outcomes, and access to care.
Innovations in our portfolio connect primary care practices and providers with tools and technical assistance focused on increasing care quality and value and improving performance. We implement and evaluate evidence-based solutions designed to meet patients’ needs within the resource constraints of frontline primary care.
Workforce Training Evaluation
Data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicate that demand for primary care services exceeds supply of primary care providers. Marginalized populations in the healthcare safety net also rely on their primary care teams for a breadth of specialty care and treatment services they would otherwise be unable to access.
Weitzman researchers have led and rigorously evaluated workforce development initiatives designed to serve as primary care force multipliers. Our robust medical education, healthcare quality improvement, and upskilling offerings develop and train the next generation of primary care leaders. Our research and evaluation offer evidence-based solutions that prepare them to meet their patients needs.
Featured Work
Thies KM, Gonzalez M, Porto A, Ashley KL, Korman S, Lamb M. Project ECHO COVID-19: Vulnerable Populations and Telehealth Early in the Pandemic. Journal of Primary Care & Community Health. May 26, 2021; 12(1-6). https://doi.org/10.1177/21501327211019286
Zlateva I, Schiessl A, Khalid N, Bamrick K, Flinter M. Development and validation of the Readiness to Train Assessment Tool (RTAT). BMC Health Services Research. 21(1). April 28, 2021. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-021-06406-3
Damian AJ, Gonzalez M, Oo M, Anderson D. A National Study of Community Health Centers’ Readiness to Address COVID-19. Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine. February 2021; 34:S85-S94; doi:10.3122/jabfm.2021.S1.200167
Damian AJ, Gonzalez M, Oo M, Anderson D. A National Study of Community Health Centers’ Readiness to Address COVID-19. Health Services Research. August 20, 2020.55(S1). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-6773.13327.
Thies K, Schiessl A, Khalid N, Hess AM, Harding-Wheeler K, Ward D. Evaluation of a Learning Collaborative to Implement Team-Based Care in Federally Qualified Health Centers: Implementation and Practice Outocomes. BMJ Open Quality. July 2020:9(3):e000794. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2019-000794
Thies K, Anderson D, Beals-Reid C. Project ECHO Chronic Pain: a qualitative analysis of recommendations by expert faculty and the process of knowledge translation. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions. Aug 2019;39(3):194.
Thies K, Beals-Reid C, Anderson D. Project ECHO Chronic Pain: A content analysis of recommendations by expert faculty. Pain Medicine. 2019 Mar 6; https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz024
Furness BW, Goldhammer H, Montalvo W, Gagnon K, Bifulco L, Lentine D, Anderson D. Transforming Primary Care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: A Collaborative Quality Improvement Initiative. Annals of Family Medicine, July/August 2020:18(4) 292-302; https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2542
Gagnon K, Bifulco L, Robinson S, Furness B, Lentine D, Anderson D. The North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) 47th Annual Meeting. Toronto, ON, CA. November 16-19, 2019. Qualitative Content Analysis of Facilitators and Barriers to Improving Primary Care for LGBTQ+ Patients. Oral Presentation.
Community Health Workers
Featured Work
Chang W, Oo M, Rojas A, Damian AJ. Patients’ Perspectives on the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Impact of a Community Health Worker Program: A Qualitative Study. Health Equity. February 2021; 5(1); 10.1089/heq.2020.0159
Damian AJ, Robinson S, Manzoor F, Lamb M, Rojas A, Porto AM, Anderson D. A Mixed Methods Evaluation of the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Impact of a Pilot Project ECHO for Community Health Workers (CHWs). Pilot and Feasibility Studies.6, 132 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-020-00678-y .
Specialty Care Access
Limited access to specialty care is a significant contributor to healthcare inequality, particularly among members of racial/ethnic minority groups and those living in rural areas of the country. While Medicaid expansion via the Affordable Care Act has improved overall access to healthcare, limited access to specialists has continued and in many instances gotten worse.
Weitzman researchers have conducted essential research exploring the impact of telehealth tools to improve collaboration between specialists and primary care providers. This work has demonstrated the potential for eConsults to improve access to specialty care, reduce wait times, and reduce the cost of healthcare.
Featured Work
Porto AJ, Rubin K, Wagner K, Chang W, Macri G, Anderson D. Impact of Pediatric eConsults in a Federally Qualified Health Center. Telemedicine and e-Health. March 12, 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2020.0394.
Smith M, Vuernick E, Anderson D, Mulrooney M, Harel O, Allotey P. Pharmacist eConsult Service for Primary Care Medication Optimization and Safety. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association. January 11, 2021. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.japh.2021.01.006
Anderson D, Porto AJ, Koppel J, Macri G, Wright M. Impact of Endocrinology eConsults on Access to Endocrinology Care for Medicaid patients. Telemedicine and e-Health; 2020 Feb 5. doi:10.1089/tmj.2019.0238
Anderson D, Villagra VG, Coman E, Ahmed T, Porto A, Jepeal N, Macri G, Teevan B. Reduced cost of specialty care using electronic consultations for Medicaid patients. Health Affairs 2018 Dec; 37(12):2031-6.
Anderson D, Villagra V, Coman E, Zlateva I, Hutchinson A, Villagra J, Olayiwola, N. A Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Cardiology eConsults for Medicaid Patients. Am J Managed Care 2018; 24(1): e9-e16.
Naka F, Lu J, Porto A, Villagra J, Wu Z, Anderson D. Impact of Dermatology eConsults on Access to Care and Skin Cancer Screening in Underserved Populations: A Model for Teledermatology Services in Community Health Centers. J Am Acad Dermatol 2018; 78(2):293-320
- Olayiwola JN, Anderson D (co-first author), Jepeal N, Aseltine R, Pickett C, Yan J, Zlateva I. Electronic Consultations to Improve the Primary Care-Specialty Care Interface for Cardiology in the Medically Underserved: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Ann Fam Med 2016; 14(2):133-140.
Pain Care
Pain is among the most common presenting complaints in primary care. Despite this fact, primary care providers receive limited training on the assessment and management of pain. The epidemic of prescription opioid analgesic misuse has made addressing this issue even more critical.
Largely with the guidance of Senior Weitzman Faculty Member Dr. Daren Anderson, Weitzman researchers have conducted critical research exploring ways to educate primary care providers and improve the management of pain to reduce reliance on opioids and increase the use of holistic, patient-centered, multidisciplinary approaches to care.
Featured Work
Bifulco L, Blankson M, Channamsetty V, Blaz J, Nguyen-Louie T, Scholle S, Anderson D. Evaluation of a Chronic Pain Screening Program Implemented in Primary Care. JAMA Network Open. In Press.
Thies M, Anderson D, Beals-Reid C. Project ECHO Chronic Pain: A Qualitative Analysis of Recommendations by Expert Faculty and the Process of Knowledge Translation. J Continuing Education Healthcare. 2019; 39 (3):159-160.
Thies M, Anderson D, Beals-Reid C. Project ECHO Chronic Pain: A Qualitative Analysis of Recommendations by Expert Faculty, Pain Medicine 2019; doi: 10.1093/pm/pnz024
Anderson D, Zlateva I, Coman E, Davis B, Giannotti T, Coman E, Spegman D. Improving Pain Care with Project ECHO in Community Health Centers. Pain Med 2017; 18(10):1882-1889
Anderson D, Zlateva I, Coman E, Khatri K, Tian T, Kerns R. Improving pain care through implementation of the Stepped Care Model at a multisite community health center. Journal of Pain Research 2016: (9):1021-1029
Anderson D, Zlateva I, Moore B. Improving the management of chronic non-cancer pain in primary care: Results of a multifaceted quality improvement initiative 2015: Implementation Science 10(Suppl 1):A45
Anderson D, Zlateva I, Khatri, K & Ciaburri N. Using Health Information Technology to Improve Adherence to Opioid Prescribing Guidelines in Primary Care. Clin J Pain. 2015 Jun;31(6):573-9
Tian TY, Zlateva I, Anderson DR. Using electronic health records data to identify patients with chronic pain in a primary care setting. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. 2013; 20(e2):e275-80.
Anderson D, Wang S, Zlateva I. Comprehensive Assessment of Chronic Pain Management in Primary Care- a First Phase of a Quality Improvement Initiative at a Multi-Site Community Health Center. Journal of Quality in Primary Care. , 2012, 20(6):421-433.