Background

Healthcare systems are working to move towards more integrated, patient-centered care. This study describes the development and testing of a multidimensional self-report measure of patients' experiences of integrated care.

Methods

Random-digit-dial telephone survey in 2012 of 317 adults aged 40 years or older in the San Francisco region who had used healthcare at least twice in the past 12 months. One-time cross-sectional survey; psychometric evaluation to confirm dimensions and create multi-item scales. Survey data were analyzed using VARCLUS and confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency reliability testing.

Results

Scales measuring five domains were confirmed: coordination within and between care teams, navigation (arranging appointments and visits), communication between specialist and primary care doctor, and communication between primary care doctor and specialist. Four of these demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability. Mean scale scores indicated low levels of integration.

Conclusion

These scales measuring integrated care capture meaningful domains of patients' experiences of health care. The low levels of care integration reported by patients in the study sample suggest that these types of measures should be considered in ongoing evaluations of health system performance and improvement. Further research should examine whether differences in patient experience of integrated care are associated with differences in the processes and outcomes of care received.

Background

Language concordance between physicians and patients may reduce barriers to care faced by patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). It is unclear whether physicians with fluency in non-English languages practice in areas with high concentrations of people with LEP.

Objective

To investigate whether physician non-English language fluency is associated with practicing in areas with high concentrations of people with LEP.

Design

Cross-sectional cohort study.

Participants

A total of 61,138 practicing physicians no longer in training who participated in the California Medical Board Physician Licensure Survey from 2001-2007.

Measures

Self-reported language fluency in Spanish and Asian languages. Physician practice ZIP code corresponding to: (1) high concentration of people with LEP and (2) high concentration of linguistically isolated households.

Methods

Practice location ZIP code was geocoded with geographic medical service study designations. We examined the unadjusted relationships between physician self-reported fluency in Spanish and selected Asian languages and practice location, stratified by race-ethnicity. We used staged logistic multiple variable regression models to isolate the effect of self-reported language fluency on practice location controlling for age, gender, race-ethnicity, medical specialty, and international medical graduate status.

Results

Physicians with self-reported fluency in Spanish or an Asian language were more likely to practice in linguistically designated areas in these respective languages compared to those without fluency. Physician fluency in an Asian language [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.77; 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.63-1.92] was independently associated with practicing in areas with a high number of LEP Asian speakers. A similar pattern was found for Spanish language fluency (AOR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.43-1.82) and areas with high numbers of LEP Spanish-speakers. Latino and Asian race-ethnicity had the strongest effect on corresponding practice location, and this association was attenuated by language fluency.

Conclusions

Physicians who are fluent in Spanish or an Asian language are more likely to practice in geographic areas where their potential patients speak the corresponding language.

Purpose

Health care reform in the US has introduced terms such as 'the patient-centered medical home' and 'integrated care' that are often unclear and unfamiliar to patients. This study explored patient experiences with the functional domains of integrated care.

Theory and methods

Patients first wrote their definitions of integrated care and then participated in focus group discussions about their experiences with the health care system. Transcripts were analyzed for thematic content.

Results

Forty-four patients participated in one of seven focus groups in San Francisco, CA in English and Spanish. Many patients were not clear about the meaning of the term integrated care. However, patients described experiences largely reflected in an existing conceptual model of integrated care and the importance of coordination within and across teams and with community resources, continuity and sharing of information, and patient engagement. Patients with high medical needs described the ubiquitous challenges they faced in experiencing coordinated care.

Conclusions

Patients may not understand the term integrated care but are relatively clear on what the concept of integrated care entails and support its successful implementation. Patients and their families are at the center of integrated care, and health systems need to support and empower them to successfully navigate the medical neighborhood.

Purpose

Health care reform in the US has introduced terms such as 'the patient-centered medical home' and 'integrated care' that are often unclear and unfamiliar to patients. This study explored patient experiences with the functional domains of integrated care.

Theory and methods

Patients first wrote their definitions of integrated care and then participated in focus group discussions about their experiences with the health care system. Transcripts were analyzed for thematic content.

Results

Forty-four patients participated in one of seven focus groups in San Francisco, CA in English and Spanish. Many patients were not clear about the meaning of the term integrated care. However, patients described experiences largely reflected in an existing conceptual model of integrated care and the importance of coordination within and across teams and with community resources, continuity and sharing of information, and patient engagement. Patients with high medical needs described the ubiquitous challenges they faced in experiencing coordinated care.

Conclusions

Patients may not understand the term integrated care but are relatively clear on what the concept of integrated care entails and support its successful implementation. Patients and their families are at the center of integrated care, and health systems need to support and empower them to successfully navigate the medical neighborhood.

To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited degree of polygyny in the human societies that practice it, and to the importance of unequally held rival resources to women's fitness. The muted reproductive inequality observed in humans appears to be linked to several unusual characteristics of our species-including high levels of cooperation among males, high dependence on unequally held rival resources, complementarities between maternal and paternal investment, as well as social and legal institutions that enforce monogamous norms.