Primary care is at a crossroads. Practices are transforming from procedure-based, physician-centric care delivery to more advanced primary care models that put patients and their families at the center. AF4Q Alliances are supporting practices in their community through this transition in a variety of ways including practice coaching. Today's edition of Spotlight showcases how practice coaching can help improve ambulatory care.

Practice coaches, usually outside experts, work with primary care practices to implement a variety of changes that improve patient outcomes and increase efficiency. Practice coaches are health care professionals who help practices effectively navigate the challenging—and rewarding—process of making lasting change. By providing ongoing mentoring in employing quality improvement concepts and technical assistance, coaches help practices define and achieve improvements in patient care.

Over the past three years, nine of the 16 AF4Q Alliances have developed practice coaching programs to support primary care practices in reaching defined goals and outcomes related to chronic illness care, access and efficiency, preventive services, self-management support, and care transitions while increasing these practices’ internal capacity to build quality improvement into their daily work. In these communities, practice coaching has become an integral component of their continuous quality improvement.

Explore More:

• What is a practice coach?
• Does practice coaching improve practice performance?
• How do you develop a business model to sustain your practice coaching program?

Humboldt County and South Central Pennsylvania operate projects in which patient volunteers and their primary care physicians and practice staff work together on quality improvement (QI) teams. Patient partners undergo an orientation to establish expectations, introduce QI methodology, and learn techniques for working effectively as a team. These partnerships have produced improved appointment access, enhanced support mechanisms for patients with chronic illness, and improved clinic work flows.

Watch this video to learn more about the South Central Pennsylvania AF4Q Alliance Planned Care Collaborative and Patient Partner programs.