Overview

Drop-in Group Medical Appointments (DIGMAs) were designed to increase access to physicians, improve patient satisfaction, and enhance physician productivity. The model aims to improve quality outcomes by giving patients an extended medical appointment with their doctor within a group setting, where their psychological, behavioral, and educational health needs can be addressed. The Luther Midelfort Mayo System in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, initiated several DIGMAs beginning in 1999 but did not obtain sufficient enrollment to sustain the program. Patients in Luther's most successful groups, family care and women's health, were highly satisfied with the experience and doctors thought they were helpful for patients with unmet psychosocial needs. However, these groups only attracted about six or seven patients a session—higher than the others but far short of the 12 to 14 patients needed to break even. A Medicare billing code for group medical visits may be necessary to support the future development of this approach to improving quality of care. For more information, see the Fund publication under Related Resources.

This study was based on publicly available information and self-reported data provided by the case study institution(s). The aim of Fund-sponsored case studies of this type is to identify institutions that have achieved results indicating high performance in a particular area, have undertaken innovations designed to reach higher performance, or exemplify attributes that can foster high performance. The studies are intended to enable other institutions to draw lessons from the studied organizations' experiences in ways that may aid their own efforts to become high performers. The Commonwealth Fund is not an accreditor of health care organizations or systems, and the inclusion of an institution in the Fund's case studies series is not an endorsement by the Fund for receipt of health care from the institution.