Engaging individuals recently released from prison into primary care: A randomized trial

E.A. Wang, C.S. Hong, S. Shavit, R. Sanders, E. Kessell and M.B. Kushel

American Journal of Public Health, 2012, vol. 102, issue 9, e22-e29

Abstract: Objectives: Individuals released from prison have high rates of chronic conditions but minimal engagement in primary care. We compared 2 interventions designed to improve primary care engagement and reduce acute care utilization: Transitions Clinic, a primary care-based care management program with a community health worker, versus expedited primary care. Methods: We performed a randomized controlled trial from 2007 to 2009 among 200 recently released prisoners who had a chronic medical condition or were older than 50 years. We abstracted 12-month outcomes from an electronic repository available from the safety-net health care system. Main outcomes were (1) primary care utilization (2 or more visits to the assigned primary care clinic) and (2) emergency department (ED) utilization (the proportion of participants making any ED visit). Results: Both groups had similar rates of primary care utilization (37.7% vs 47.1%; P =.18). Transitions Clinic participants had lower rates of ED utilization (25.5% vs 39.2%; P =.04). Conclusions: Chronically ill patients leaving prison will engage in primary care if provided early access. The addition of a primary care-based care management program tailored for returning prisoners reduces ED utilization over expedited primary care.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300894

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2012.300894_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300894

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().