Access to specialty services has long been a serious problem for patients of California's nonprofit community clinics and health centers (CCHCs). One approach to ameliorating the problem is to share specialty services.
This business planning guide offers hands-on tools for clinics and clinic consortia that are considering participating in a shared specialty network. It takes the reader through relevant planning questions and assists in evaluating and implementing each step. A variety of tools are provided, including:
- A template for a specialty care access survey
- A financial feasibility workbook with instructions and examples
- Checklists for recruiting and retaining specialist physicians
- A checklist for working with volunteer physicians
- Checklists for scheduling policies and creating access to ancillary services
- Examples and sample documents from other clinics and consortia
- Checklists for legal considerations and evaluation of specialty services
The guide also includes detailed information about billing, coding, and insurance issues, as well as technology and web-based applications. It is intended to assist clinics and consortia that are just beginning the process of considering shared services, as well as those that have more experience and would like to refine their approach.
The complete resource is available under Document Downloads. Note: The ZIP file must be extracted into a single folder (as opposed to opening individual files without extracting them first) in order for the links between the documents to function properly.