Anthony Cheng, MD; Heather Angier, PhD, MPH; Nathalie Huguet, PhD; Kellen Strickland, BSN; Emily Barclay, MS; Eric Herman, MD; Craig McDougall, MD; Frances E Biagioli, MD; Kam Pierce, MPA; Carliana Straub; Bennett Straub; Deborah J. Cohen, PhD; Jennifer DeVoe, MD, DPhil
Corresponding Author: Anthony Cheng, MD; Oregon Health & Science University. Email: chengan@ohsu.edu
Section: Brief Report
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Introduction: To respond to the COVID19 pandemic and recover from its aftermath, primary care teams will face waves of overwhelming demand for information and the need to significantly transform care delivery. Innovation: Oregon Health & Science University’s primary care team envisioned and implemented the COVID-19 Connected Care Center, a statewide telephone “hotline” service to offer technical assistance to Oregon primary care practices and to integrate within existing care services and augment care for all Oregonians. This paper describes the implementation of the COVID-19 Connected Care Center. Results: The hotline has taken over 5,825 calls from patients in 33 of Oregon’s 36 counties in less than 3 months. In preliminary survey data, 86% of patients said their questions were answered during the call, 90% would recommend this service to a friend or family member and 70% reported a reduction in stress levels about coronavirus. In qualitative interviews, patients reported their questions were answered, they are not asked to wait on hold for long periods of time, nurses spend as much time as they needed and appropriate follow up was arranged. Conclusion: Academic health centers, like OHSU, may have the capacity to leverage their extensive research, clinical and educational resources to rapidly launch a multi-phased pandemic response that meets peoples’ need for information and access to primary care, while minimizing risk of infection and emergency department utilization, and rapidly supporting primary care teams to make the necessary operational changes to do the same in their communities. Such efforts require external funding in a fee for service payment model.