Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Patients with Hypertension Benefit From Coordinated Care Approach
Clinical Breakthroughs

Patients with Hypertension Benefit From Coordinated Care Approach

By Roger AndersonFeb 28, 2014
Share
Facebook Twitter Email
David Liss, PhD, MA ’08, found that relatively healthier individuals with hypertension saw far fewer specialists when receiving care in a patient-centered medical home. 

 

New Northwestern Medicine research suggests that people with hypertension may benefit from the primary care teams established within a medical home setting.

The study, led by David Liss, PhD, MA ’08, research assistant professor in Medicine-General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, looked at more than 36,000 adults in 26 clinics that have implemented a team-based healthcare delivery model known as the patient-centered medical home (PCMH).

In recent years, PCMHs have attracted attention as a solution to systemic deficiencies in primary care. Liss studied how patients with treated hypertension used outpatient specialty care before, during and after each clinic’s restructuring.

“Redesigning care to a medical home seems to let primary-care teams do more within their expertise for their patients,” said Liss. “Our results suggest this can avoid or prevent some specialty visits for patients with stable hypertension and a few co-occurring illnesses.”

The findings were recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Liss believes the findings are consistent with what one would expect to see in a good medical home, namely that relatively healthier patients with hypertension would have more of their needs addressed in primary care, while sicker patients would be more likely to be referred into appropriate specialty care. This pattern of healthcare use ensures that specialists are seeing the patients who will benefit most from their expertise. It also reduces the need to coordinate care for individuals whose condition can be managed by the primary-care team.

Patients with hypertension but few other conditions had 27-28 percent fewer specialty visits in each of the three years after the medical home model began being implemented. Individuals with some other illness had 9 percent fewer specialty visits during PCMH implementation and 5 percent fewer specialty visits during the following year.

In contrast, the scientists found very different results for clinically complex patients burdened by multiple diseases in addition to hypertension. For those patients, specialty use was 3 and 5 percent higher during the first and second years after PCMH implementation.

Liss collaborated with scientists at Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington School of Public Health. The work was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (TL1 RR025016), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R18 HS019129) and Group Health Cooperative.

Cardiology Patient Care Research
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Northwestern Simulation’s In Situ Training Tests Cardiac Arrest Response Teams

Sep 25, 2023

Investigating the Link Between Iron Deficiency and Regulation of Cell Growth

Sep 25, 2023

Feinberg Investigators Identify How a Residential Neighborhood Can Impact Health

Sep 22, 2023

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Northwestern Simulation’s In Situ Training Tests Cardiac Arrest Response Teams

Sep 25, 2023

Investigating the Link Between Iron Deficiency and Regulation of Cell Growth

Sep 25, 2023

Feinberg Investigators Identify How a Residential Neighborhood Can Impact Health

Sep 22, 2023

Robert Lamb, Renowned Expert on Influenza Virus, Dies at 72

Sep 22, 2023

Bethany Ekesa, Associate Director of SPARC, Honored with Jean E. Shedd University Citizenship Award

Sep 21, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20230914_NM461
20230914_NM644
20230914_NM345
20230914_NM444
20230914_NM464
20230914_NM520
20230914_NM673
20230914_NM641
20230914_NM612
20230914_NM608
20230914_NM602
20230914_NM597

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.