The First Step is the Hardest: Overcoming Barriers to Primary Care

Excerpt

In 2007, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement developed the Triple Aim framework to describe an approach to optimizing health delivery systems.1 The Triple Aim argues that health systems must improve patient experience and population health, while reducing the cost of healthcare. To improve population health, health institutions must look beyond the walls of the health system to reach members of the targeted population who are not receiving care. This objective presents many challenges for clinicians and health systems, particularly when the targeted population is homeless. In this issue of JGIM, O’Toole et al.2 describe the results of a two-by-two randomized control trial that aimed to engage out-of-care homeless veterans into primary care. They found that two low-intensity interventions designed to overcome common reasons to not seek care increased the probability of homeless veterans visiting primary care within 4 weeks. …