Community health centers that are closely affiliated with hospitals have fewer difficulties getting their patients appointments for specialty procedures like X-rays, diagnostic tests, and visits with specialist physicians, according to a new Commonwealth Fund survey of community health centers. Centers without hospital affiliations reported they had more difficulty getting off-site specialty appointments regardless of a patient's insurance status—pointing to the need for incentives that will promote connections between health centers and specialty care providers.
Listen to a podcast in which Michelle M. Doty, assistant vice president and director of survey research at The Commonwealth Fund and lead author of the report, Melinda Abrams, assistant vice president and director of the Commonwealth Fund's Patient-Centered Coordinated Care program, and Paul Kaye, chief medical officer of Hudson River HealthCare, a network of 16 community health centers, discuss the survey findings and strategies to help centers prepare for the anticipated increase in demand for services under health reform's insurance expansions.
