Still, Only 40% Used Primary Care
She noted, however, that despite the finding that the intervention in this study nearly doubled the percentage of primary care visits in 4 months, primary care use still was only 40%. Study staff were not able to schedule an appointment for 24% of the intervention group within a year, even though participants identified a PCP at enrollment. Reasons for that included the patient already having used their yearly primary care visit; patients needing to restart care with their primary care clinician or choose a new clinician; and study staff being unable to reach primary care offices for scheduling.
Clearly, “there is more work to be done to remove administrative barriers to care after delivery,” she writes.
Dr. Clapp reports holding equity from the Delfina Care Scientific Advisory Board outside the submitted work. Coauthor Dr. Ganguli reports grants from the National Institute on Aging, Commonwealth Fund, and Arnold Ventures, and personal fees from FPrime outside the submitted work. Dr. Cohen reports grants from the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy on Aging during the conduct of the study. The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging via the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Roybal Center for Translational Research to Improve Health Care for the Aging and the National Bureau of Economic Research Roybal Center for Behavior Change in Health. Editorialist Meghan Bellerose reported no relevant financial disclosures.