Identifying and addressing gaps in the implementation of a community care team for care of Patients with multiple chronic conditions

BACKGROUND: Patients with multiple chronic conditions represent a growing segment for healthcare. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) supports leveraging community programs to support patients and their caregivers overwhelmed by their treatment plans, but this component has lagged behind the adoption of other model elements. Community Care Teams (CCTs) leverage partnerships between healthcare delivery systems and existing community programs to address this deficiency. There remains a gap in moving CCTs from pilot phase to sustainable full-scale programs. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify the cognitive and structural needs of clinicians, social workers, and nurse care coordinators to effectively refer appropriate patients to the CCT and the value these stakeholders derived from referring to and receiving feedback from the CCT. We then sought to translate this knowledge into an implementation toolkit to bridge implementation gaps. METHODS: Our research process was guided by the Assess, Innovate, Develop, Engage, and Devolve (AIDED) implementation science framework. During the Assess process we conducted chart reviews, interviews, and observations and in Innovate and Develop phases, we worked with stakeholders to develop an implementation toolkit. The Engage and Devolve phases disseminate the toolkit through social networks of clinical champions and are ongoing. RESULTS: We completed 14 chart reviews, 11 interviews, and 2 observations. From these, facilitators and barriers to CCT referrals and patient re-integration into primary care were identified. These insights informed the development of a toolkit with seven components to address implementation gaps identified by the researchers and stakeholders. CONCLUSION: We identified implementation gaps to sustaining the CCT program, a community-healthcare partnership, and used this information to build an implementation toolkit. We established liaisons with clinical champions to diffuse this information. The AIDED Model, not previously used in high-income countries’ primary care settings, proved adaptable and useful.