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Published in: BMC Health Services Research 1/2023

Open Access 01-12-2023 | Care | Research

Community Health Teams: a qualitative study about the factors influencing the decision-making process

Authors: Lisa W. Natkin, Eline van den Broek-Altenburg, Jamie S. Benson, Adam Atherly

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Issue 1/2023

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Abstract

Background

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing how individual Community Health Teams (CHTs) make decisions about what services to offer and how to allocate their resources.

Methods

We conducted thirteen semi-structured interviews with all 13 CHTs program managers between January and March, 2021. We analyzed interviewees descriptions of their service offerings, resources allocation, and decision-making process to identify themes.

Results

Four major themes emerged from the interview data as factors influencing community health team program managers’ decision-making process: commitment to offering high-quality care coordination, Blueprint’s stable and flexible structure, use of data in priority setting, and leveraging community partnerships and local resources.

Conclusions

Community-based CHTs with flexible funding allowed programs to tailor service offerings in response to community needs. It is important for teams to have access to community-level data. Teams are cultivating and leveraging community partners to increase their care coordination capacity, which is focus of their work. CHTs are a model for leveraging community partnerships to increase service capacity and pubic engagement in health services for other states to replicate.
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Metadata
Title
Community Health Teams: a qualitative study about the factors influencing the decision-making process
Authors
Lisa W. Natkin
Eline van den Broek-Altenburg
Jamie S. Benson
Adam Atherly
Publication date
01-12-2023
Publisher
BioMed Central
Keyword
Care
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09423-6

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