Specialty Care

An issue brief reports on the impact, challenges, and lessons learned from a redesign project to expand specialty-care access for patients in a Los Angeles network of community clinics. A second report provides an independent evaluation of the project.

Telepsychiatry is used in some emergency departments to make the process of evaluating and treating patients with mental health issues more efficient. This paper examines seven ED telepsychiatry programs in terms of structure, financing, and challenges.

Dermatologists can serve many more patients -- without regard to distance or scheduling -- by making use of store-and-forward teledermatology systems. This CHCF paper looks at criteria for evaluating these systems, and gives a comparative overview of four available applications.

This business planning guide offers tools for community clinics and clinic consortia that are considering participating in a shared specialty network. It provides hands-on tools such as worksheets, checklists, and examples.

To provide some specialty services onsite, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) in California must comply with federal scope-of-project and reimbursement regulations. This paper explains the rules and provides practical guidelines for meeting them.

Providing consistent access to specialty care services is difficult for community clinics and other ambulatory settings that serve low-income populations. This research looks at programs created to improve access and overcome barriers to good specialty care. Nine case studies in diverse settings offer insights for others wishing to enhance specialty care access.

To improve access and reduce wait times for specialty services, many specialty practices have incorporated physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs) into their health care. This report highlights six models that have been financially sustainable.

Californians who depend for their health care on safety-net institutions often have difficulty getting access to specialty care. This report examines the size and causes of the problem and looks at efforts to create solutions.

Developing effective strategies for specialty care referrals in the safety net requires a clear understanding of the typical clinical scenarios that generate such referrals. This paper presents insights from interviews with community and public hospital clinics.

This report describes eight software systems that allow health care providers to process patient referrals using Web-based tools, rather than the paper forms, telephone calls, and faxes that often result in miscommunication. Four case studies are included.