Program Evaluation of Team-Based Model of Care in a General Cardiology Clinic: Impact on Access to Care and Patient Satisfaction

Appointment wait times have increased nationally since 2014, especially in cardiology. At a mid-Atlantic academic medical center, access to care in the general cardiology clinic was below national standards, which can negatively affect patient outcomes and satisfaction. Adopting a Team-Based Care (TBC) model, advanced practice providers (APPs) were added to care teams with general cardiologists to provide timely outpatient management of cardiac conditions. This aimed to increase access to care, and consequently, patient satisfaction. A formative program evaluation using the Agency for Clinical Innovation framework assessed TBC’s impact on these outcomes. Access to care and patient satisfaction measures for TBC and non-team providers were compared to one another and national benchmarks. Nine months after implementation, the average time to new patient appointment for TBC providers was 31 days (47% decrease), and for non-team providers was 41 days (20% decrease). TBC had a higher percentage of new patient appointments within 14 days than non-team providers (39% and 20%, respectively). Patient satisfaction improved to the 98th percentile nationally for TBC but decreased to the 71st percentile for non-team. These findings suggest that a team-based care model utilizing APPs can improve access to care and patient satisfaction in the outpatient general cardiology setting.