Table 1.
Results from Qualitative Interviews
Emergent theme | Impact on patient care |
---|---|
Clinic factors | |
Patient intake | First point of contact is with Medical Social Worker. |
Barriers to care addressed on first point of contact to improve patient access. | |
Patient centeredness and harm reduction inform first point of contact. | |
Patient transition and retention | Empanelment—patients assigned to specific clinical provider teams so that they see the same providers each time. |
Providers prioritize team-based care and within-team communication via early morning huddles and electronic messaging. | |
Medication adherence strategies | Individualized adherence plans are developed in collaboration with each patient. |
Creative adherence strategies are used. | |
System factors | |
Ancillary services | On-site case management, mental health therapy, and pharmacy services improve patient access to care. |
Billing/340B covered entity | Funds derived from 340B provide expanded set of services to patients, as these provide a financial buffer for non-billable no-shows and missed appointments. |
340B funds also enable the provision of material supports to resolve practice barriers to care. | |
Provider factors | |
Philosophical approaches: harm reduction and valuing the patient | Providers strive to help patients move to the next lowest acceptable level of risk. |
“Universal harm reduction” messages are shared with all patients regardless of patient disclosure of harmful health behaviors. | |
Patients are valued as “whole people” with a range of experiences that impact health behaviors. | |
Patients are not judged based on harmful health behaviors. | |
Individualized care | Care is structured based on each patient's strengths and needs. |
Health literacy | Efforts to improve patients' levels of health literacy begin at intake and are carried through all clinic interactions. |
Health literacy emphasizes knowledge of medications, how they work, and the meaning of viral load as well as how it is affected by medication adherence or non-adherence. | |
A goal of health literacy is to involve patients in treatment decision making. |