Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health
Volume 21, Issue 1, 2019, Pages 198-203

Connecting Refugees to Medical Homes Through Multi-Sector Collaboration (Article)

Michael L. , Brady A.K. , Russell G. , Rhodes S.D. , Namak S. , Cody L. , Vasquez A. , Caldwell A. , Foy J. , Linton J.M.*
  • a Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • b Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • c Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • d Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • e Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • f Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • g World Relief Triad, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • h Forsyth County Department of Public Health, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • i World Relief Triad, Winston-Salem, NC, United States
  • j Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, United States

Abstract

As increasing numbers of refugees have resettled globally, an interdisciplinary group of stakeholders in Forsyth, North Carolina, recognized obstacles preventing coordinated medical care, which inspired the development of our Refugee Health Collaborative. This study assessed the Collaborative’s impact on access to coordinated care within patient-centered medical homes (PCMH). A Collaborative-developed novel algorithm guided the process by which refugees establish care in PCMHs. All refugees who established medical care in the two primary health systems in our county (n = 285) were included. Logistic non-linear mixed models were used to estimate the differences between three time frames: pre-algorithm, algorithm implementation and refinement, and ongoing algorithm implementation. After algorithm implementation, there has been a significant decrease in the time required to establish care in PCMHs, increased provider acknowledgment of refugee status, and decreased emergency department (ED) visits. Multi-disciplinary, organized collaboration can facilitate enhanced access to care for refugee families at the population level. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

Author Keywords

Cross-sector collaboration Immigrant Medical home community partnership Access to care Refugee

Index Keywords

patient care cooperation refugee community care human Refugees North Carolina Community Networks Medical Audit clinical audit Patient-Centered Care Young Adult Humans Adolescent organization and management adult Cooperative Behavior Health Services Accessibility health care delivery Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85047107227&doi=10.1007%2fs10903-018-0757-y&partnerID=40&md5=c32ab9c84d612942ac6549834e8933d7
DOI: 10.1007/s10903-018-0757-y
ISSN: 15571912
Original Language: English