TY - JOUR
T1 - Survey of North American Multidisciplinary Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Team Clinic Administration
AU - Pfeifauf, Kristin D.
AU - Patel, Kamlesh B.
AU - Snyder-Warwick, Alison
AU - Skolnick, Gary B.
AU - Scheve, Sibyl
AU - Naidoo, Sybill D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this publication was supported in part by the Children’s Discovery Institute and by NIH/NCRR Colorado CTSI Grant Number UL1 RR025780.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Objective: This study aims to provide an understanding of the ways cleft palate (CP) and craniofacial teams address billing, administration, communication of clinical recommendations, appointment scheduling, and diagnosis-specific protocols. Design: An online clinic administration survey was developed using data from an open-ended telephone questionnaire. The online survey was distributed by e-mail to the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) nurse coordinator electronic mailing list, used regularly by the ACPA and its members to communicate with teams. The response was 34.1% (42/123). Two incomplete records were excluded, as were any inconsistent responses of 3 teams submitting duplicate records. Results: Six (15.8%) of 38 teams do not charge for clinic visits. For all other teams, some or all providers bill individually for services (68.4%) or a single lump sum applies (10.5%). Patients of 34 (89.5%) of 38 teams occasionally or often neglect to schedule or attend follow-up appointments. Twenty-six (66.7%) of 39 team directors were plastic surgeons. Phone is a common method of contacting families for scheduling (60.0%) and appointment reminders (82.5%). Most teams’ providers (90.0%) routinely communicate findings to each other during postclinical conference. Most teams saw patients with isolated cleft lip (43.6%), cleft lip and palate (64.1%), or isolated CP (59.0%) annually. Conclusions: The breadth of strategies team clinic administration strategies warrants further exploration of the variations and their effects on patient-centered outcomes including the quality of life, satisfaction, cost, and resource utilization.
AB - Objective: This study aims to provide an understanding of the ways cleft palate (CP) and craniofacial teams address billing, administration, communication of clinical recommendations, appointment scheduling, and diagnosis-specific protocols. Design: An online clinic administration survey was developed using data from an open-ended telephone questionnaire. The online survey was distributed by e-mail to the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association (ACPA) nurse coordinator electronic mailing list, used regularly by the ACPA and its members to communicate with teams. The response was 34.1% (42/123). Two incomplete records were excluded, as were any inconsistent responses of 3 teams submitting duplicate records. Results: Six (15.8%) of 38 teams do not charge for clinic visits. For all other teams, some or all providers bill individually for services (68.4%) or a single lump sum applies (10.5%). Patients of 34 (89.5%) of 38 teams occasionally or often neglect to schedule or attend follow-up appointments. Twenty-six (66.7%) of 39 team directors were plastic surgeons. Phone is a common method of contacting families for scheduling (60.0%) and appointment reminders (82.5%). Most teams’ providers (90.0%) routinely communicate findings to each other during postclinical conference. Most teams saw patients with isolated cleft lip (43.6%), cleft lip and palate (64.1%), or isolated CP (59.0%) annually. Conclusions: The breadth of strategies team clinic administration strategies warrants further exploration of the variations and their effects on patient-centered outcomes including the quality of life, satisfaction, cost, and resource utilization.
KW - cleft palate
KW - clinic organization
KW - craniofacial
KW - multidisciplinary treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063260703&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1055665618776069
DO - 10.1177/1055665618776069
M3 - Article
C2 - 29781722
AN - SCOPUS:85063260703
SN - 1055-6656
VL - 56
SP - 508
EP - 513
JO - Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal
JF - Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal
IS - 4
ER -