Fostering Partnerships with the Safety Net: An Evaluation of Kaiser Permanente's Community Ambassador Program in the Mid-Atlantic States.

INTRODUCTION: Kaiser Permanente (KP) Mid-Atlantic States has partnered with communities in its service area since 2011 to provide health services to underserved individuals. As part of KP's Community Benefit investment, the Community Ambassador Program places KP advanced-practice clinicians in safety-net clinics to share best practices and to improve access and quality of care. OBJECTIVE: To report program outcomes and disseminate lessons learned. METHODS: Using data from participating clinics, we retrospectively evaluated the program and estimated Community Ambassadors' contributions to clinic capacity, patient access, evidence-based care, and clinical quality measures. Furthermore, we conducted 29 semistructured phone interviews with stakeholders. Questions focused on program benefits, challenges, learning, and sustainability. RESULTS: From 2013 to 2017, Community Ambassadors filled up to 32.8 full-time equivalent positions and conducted 294,436 patient encounters in 19 clinics. In certain years and for subsets of clinics, Community Ambassadors performed above average on 2 high-priority quality measures: Cervical cancer screening for women aged 21 to 64 years and diabetes (blood glucose) control. Interviews with 15 Community Ambassadors, 15 health centers leaders, and 7 KP Mid-Atlantic States staff members revealed that Community Ambassadors improved patient access, clinic capacity, and care quality. Ambassadors also exported KP best practices and supported KP's community relations. Challenges included patient acuity, clinic resources, staff turnover, and long-term sustainability. CONCLUSION: The Community Ambassador Program achieved its goals and had clear benefits, offering a model for large health care systems wanting to collaborate with community-based clinics. Careful planning is needed to ensure that positive results are sustained.

Expanding Access to Care and Improving Quality in the Mid-Atlantic States Safety-Net Clinics: Kaiser Permanente's Community Ambassador Program.

The Community Ambassador Program (CAP) in the Mid-Atlantic States Region places Kaiser Permanente-employed nurse practitioners, midwives, and physician assistants to work in the safety-net clinics and share best practices through a long-term community collaboration. The authors conducted an evaluation of 18 safety-net clinics that participated in the CAP in 2012. The Community Ambassadors provided an estimated 32,249 encounters to 11,988 patients. Performance was at or near 90% for 2 adult quality measures (weight screening and tobacco use assessment). For breast cancer screenings, however, performance among the Community Ambassadors was much lower (48%). The program expanded access and improved quality of care.