Alternative Payment Models; Improving Patient Engagement, FQHCs

This is the first issue in 2 years of the Journal that doesn't include articles on COVID. I am sure it is a temporary lapse as COVID today is making a comeback.

Instead, this issue of the Journal consists of articles pertaining to organizational, policy, and research issues in ambulatory care. From a policy perspective, Zurovac and colleagues highlight opportunities to increase participation in the CMS Medicare Alternative Payment models.

Patient engagement is key to successful delivery of ambulatory care. Selim and coauthors review the literature for a patient-derived instrument the Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12). It is used in a wide variety of settings. Patients with complex needs are very appropriately placed into patient-centered medical homes, and Stockdale et al examine factors impacting the effective use of these delivery models. Jurdi and Crosby examine the correlation between patient experience and provider performance. Using a different and perspective, Jopson examines the evolving and critical role that medical assistants play in overall team performance.

Hamadi and coworkers examine trends in hospital outpatient quality programs. Liss and colleagues examine 14 ambulatory interventions to address patients' medical and social needs.

Continuing our abiding interest in Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Choi and colleagues examine factors impacting the expansion of these institutions.

Alvarez and Gronowski separately analyze different aspects of community health workers, the other important area that the Journal pursues.

-Norbert I. Goldfield, MD

Editor