248325 Rota Care Clinic - A Community-Based Partnership Caring for Uninsured Patients with Chronic Illness

Monday, October 31, 2011

Britta Runbeck, MPH MBA , School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Circle Pines, MN
Sudit Ranade, MD MPH MBA CCFP CPH , Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Mary Hoagland-Scher, MD , Washington Veterans Home, Retsil, WA
Janet Runbeck, MSN RN , Rota Care Clinic, Tacoma, WA
  
Objective

This paper describes the management of diabetes at Rota Care Clinic, a free chronic care clinic in Tacoma, WA for uninsured patients. The paper describes the community partnerships that form the clinic, as well as its impact on outpatient diabetes management in the community.

Methods

Following a needs assessment, Rota Care Clinic was created as a community-partnership clinic that includes: Pacific Lutheran University, Franciscan Health System; the Medical Reserve Corps; the Tacoma Rotary club; and two community-based urgent care clinics. Results

The Rota Care Clinic has 122 patients, of which 81 have diabetes. Of these, 40 patients had AICs recorded at their first visit and again at a subsequent visit for analysis. A two-tailed paired t-test revealed that the average difference between the latest and the first recorded AIC was statistically significantly lower by 1.69 (95% CI: 1.06-2.31, p<0.0001).

Conclusions

The Rota Care Clinic demonstrates the impact of a community-partnership model in the outpatient, community-based management of chronic illnesses such as diabetes. Financial sustainability must be built into the model. Future collaborative partners could help to implement a data collection methodology as well as help to identify and formalize models of sustainability.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
1) Describe a model of community-based partnership that can be used to manage chronic disease in a community setting. 2) Identify key elements in the formation and management of a community-based clinic. 3) Explain the impact of a community-based clinic on the management of a chronic illness such as diabetes.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Community-Based Partnership

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the medical director of the Free Clinic discussed in the abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: The role of community partners in community based public health
See more of: Community-Based Public Health Caucus