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Optimizing Health for Complex Adults in Primary Care: Current Challenges and a Way Forward

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ABSTRACT

As the population ages, the quantity and complexity of comorbidities only increases in the primary care setting. Health systems strive to improve quality of care and enhance cost savings, but current administrative and payment systems do not easily support the implementation of existing evidence and best practices for multimorbid adults in most primary care offices. This perspectives piece sets forth a research agenda in the area of implementation science at the intersection of geriatrics and general internal medicine. We challenge academic medical centers, medical societies, journals, and funders to actively value and support investigation in this area as much as traditional research pathways.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was funded through a grant obtained from the Association of Subspecialty Professors for the Society of General Internal Medicine Geriatrics Task Force.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they do not have a conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, 3550 Terrace Street, M211 Scaife Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA

    Hollis Day MD, MS

  2. Division of General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    Elizabeth Eckstrom MD, MPH

  3. Division of Geriatrics, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Sei Lee MD, MCR

  4. Division of Health Care Policy and Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA

    Heidi Wald MD, MPH

  5. Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Steven Counsell MD

  6. Mathematica Policy Research, Washington, DC, USA

    Eugene Rich MD

Authors
  1. Hollis Day MD, MS
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  2. Elizabeth Eckstrom MD, MPH
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  3. Sei Lee MD, MCR
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  4. Heidi Wald MD, MPH
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  5. Steven Counsell MD
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  6. Eugene Rich MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hollis Day MD, MS.

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Day, H., Eckstrom, E., Lee, S. et al. Optimizing Health for Complex Adults in Primary Care: Current Challenges and a Way Forward. J GEN INTERN MED 29, 911–914 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2749-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2749-x

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