As a result of an ambulatory care expansion planning process, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS) developed three pilot specialty care contracts with private community-based providers in June 1999. The providers were participants in Los Angeles County’s Public/Private Partnership (PPP) program and were already providing contracted primary care services to indigent patients. DHS conducted an evaluation of the contracted specialty care services to determine if they improved quality and increased access to services. Referrals from the contractors to DHS specialty care facilities were evaluated prior to the start of contracts as baseline data and referrals from primary care to an in-house specialist at the PPPs were evaluated after the initiation of the specialty care contracts. For comparison, referrals from DHS health centers to DHS hospital outpatient specialty care clinics were also examined. The evaluation addresses four central questions related to access and quality of care. 1) Do the PPP specialty care contracts decrease patient wait times for appointments? 2) What is the rate of broken appointments for specialty care? 3) Do PPP specialty care contractors comply with existent DHS specialty care referral guidelines? and 4) How many patients are referred back to DHS specialty clinics after a specialist visit at a PPP? The evaluation demonstrates that private community-based providers provide quality services in areas where it is geographically prohibitive for patients to travel to County facilities.
Learning Objectives: At the end of the presentation, participants will increase their understanding of key indicators in an evaluation of community-based specialty care providers
Keywords: Community-Based Health Care, Evaluation
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.