PROMOTE INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM CARE
Integrating Care for the Elderly at Physician Practices
1992-2002 Older adults often turn to their primary care physician for guidance and care on a wide variety of issues. These generalist physicians may be asked to identify community- based services or coordinate aspects of caregiving. Yet they rarely have the expertise, time, or staff to adequately meet these needs.
The $4.5 million Generalist Physician Initiative supported six sites across the country to develop and test team care models, involving nurses, social workers, and other health care professionals, that integrate health care services with community-based social and supportive services to improve patient care in their doctors’ offices.
Improving the coordination of care and promoting teamwork among health care professionals continues to be a major objective of the Hartford Foundation. After funding for the Generalist Physician Initiative ended, several other team care initiatives were funded, including the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Team Training (GITT) initiative, GIT in Practice initiative, IMPACT depression care model, and others.
“The beauty of the Foundation’s Generalist Physician Program is its recognition that physicians can’t serve the whole range of patient needs working alone.” Gloria B. Weinberg, MDMount Sinai Hospital Center of Greater Miami, Inc. (Top) Gloria B. Weinberg, MD, (second from left) Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, Inc. led one of the nine projects in the Generalist Physician Initiative which explored ways partnerships can improve the effectiveness and affordablility of care, and enhance satisfaction of all involved.
(Below) Peace Health in Eugene, OR, tested an interdisciplinary team model with all members housed in a single setting in the GIT in Practice initiative 2001-2005 (GITp).
(Above) United Health Services, Inc., in Binghamton, NY, received a grant under the Generalist Physician Initiative to improve the coordination of care for older adults.
(Below) The Generalist Physician Initiative (GPI) revealed that health care professionals lacked the skills needed for effective teamwork. To address this, the Geriatric Interdisciplinary Teams in Training initiative was created. The GPI and GITT initiatives inspired the Foundation’s expansion to the disciplines of nursing and social work. GITT was also the first of several initiatives to promote interdisciplinary team care, including an initiative to promote team care in day-to-day medical practice (Geriatric Interdisciplinary Teams in Practice) and an initiative to treat depression in older adults (IMPACT).
