Presentation Abstract

Title —Creating Solutions for Health Equity in Preventive Services in Rural Areas: Primary Care and Cardiovascular Risk

Effective delivery of preventive services in rural settings is a challenge. When viewed through the lens of health equity, overcoming those challenges will require creative multi-sector solutions. We will examine and compare the experiences of rural and urban primary care practices as they sought to improve their delivery of cardiovascular preventive care over three years of external support. More so than urban practices, rural practices were engaged in support that was offered, and although their baseline capacity to improve their quality of care was lower, they made remarkable gains in closing the gap in preventive service delivery. Examples of innovative solutions for rural settings will be presented, a framework for intervention design will be discussed, and a research agenda proposed.

About Dr. Parchman

Michael L. Parchman is a primary care physician and senior investigator at the MacColl Center for Healthcare Innovation within the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.

For over 25 years, Dr. Parchman’s work has focused on practice redesign to improve chronic illness care in primary care settings. He currently leads an AHRQ-funded study testing different approaches to build quality improvement capacity in over 200 smaller primary care practices across the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on cardiovascular risk factors. With support from AHRQ, he leads a study team to address opioid over-prescribing in rural health clinics across Eastern Washington and Central Idaho. Dr. Parchman is also part of a team developing innovative approaches to engage physicians to reduce the use of low-value care services, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has over 30 years of primary care practice experience and work as a medical educator.

Dr. Parchman did not disclose any conflicts of interest for this workshop.