High Impact Design Solutions to Improve Healthcare Access and Outcomes-CLINICA FAMILY HEALTH

What: Clinica Family Health, a nonprofit healthcare organization providing primary care through five community health centers near Denver, including the feature People's Medical Clinic, sought to determine whether the built environment could be used as a way to promote health living.

Why:
The goal to increase the continuity of care (i.e. a patient always seeing the same provider) has been found to benefit the patient, the staff and the organization by leading to fewer ER visits, higher patient satisfaction, increased preventive care compliance, improved efficiency and higher job satisfaction.

How:
Clinica is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with a mission to serve the low-income, uninsured or underinsured populations with the majority of patients living at or below 200% of the federal poverty level. Patient-centered medical home (PCMH) is the model of care at Clinica; the clinic is certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) as a Level 3 PCMH. As with many other community health centers serving people with limited access to healthcare, Clinica plays an important role in achieving population health objectives.

In the People's Medical Clinic, building in 2009, pods are the main structure for organizing care at the clinic. There are three color-coded pods, each of which serves as a self-sufficient care unit (i.e., medical home) for a designated patient group. Staff assigned to each pod include 3.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) providers matched with 4.25 medical assistants, 1.5 nurses, one behavioral health professional, 1.5 case manager, two front desk technicians, one medical records technician and .5 dental hygienist.

The clinic features multiple group visit suites. A group visit allows Clinica providers to bring eight-12 patients with the same health need into the clinic at the same time. Groups usually meet for 90 minutes, with patients receiving all of the medical care that they would during a one-on-one visit. They also receive health education, specialized information (from dieticians, pharmacists, hygienists, etc.) and support from other patients. Each