Health and Disability

The results of the study, which were published in the December 2015 issue of Health Affairs, included these major findings:

• Doctors’ views of practice preparedness to manage the care of these patients decline steeply when patients have severe mental illness or substance abuse-related problems.
• Primary care practice capacity to provide enhanced access and care management depend heavily on the use of allied health professionals and technology solutions, such as email access and patient portals.
• Primary care physicians’ ability to coordinate care for these patients is hampered by lack of communication with specialists, hospitals and emergency departments, home care providers, and social services organizations.
• Uptake of electronic medical records (EMRs) has been steep over the past three years, especially in Canada and the United States, but interoperability remains a significant challenge.