ISQua's 39th International Conference 2023

Title: Physicians’ experiences with the Primary Care Chronic Disease Management Program in South Korea

INTRODUCTION

An enormous financial and social burden imposed by chronic diseases emphasizes the importance of improving the quality of primary care in managing chronic conditions1, prioritizing chronic care over acute care2, ultimately leading to improve healthcare efficiency3

In response to this need, the South Korea government initiated the Primary care Chronic Disease Management Program (PCDMP) as a pilot project in 2019

Few studies have closely examined participating physicians’ experience with the program

AIM

To explore physicians' experiences during the PCDMP implementation

To examine the potentials and challenges for sustainable change in primary care physicians managing chronic care

To provide valuable evidences supporting the effectiveness of the PCDMP and generate critical insights for the ongoing development and enhancement of the program

METHOD

Semi-structured interviews with 8 primary care physicians who participated in the program

Each interview lasting between 60 to 90 minutes

The main interview topics

①Physician experiences managing chronic diseases in primary care settings

②Factors motivating them to participate in the PCDMP pilot project

③Their experiences and challenges faced during the PCDMP implementation

④Recommendations for enhancing chronic disease management in primary care settings

Conducting thematic analysis

RESULTS

The potentials for chronic disease management

- Performing desirable but previously overlooked tasks for best practice

- Making efforts to spend more time on patient education during consultation

- Feeling more responsible for chronic disease management

- Improving therapeutic relationship with patients

The remaining challenges

- Neglecting to make a personalized care plan due to time constraints

- Feeling burdened to fill the designated time for patient education

- Overlooking patient monitoring tasks due to the complex requirement of medical claim

- Experiencing fatigue due to time-consuming administrative works

- Hesitating to impose extra cost on patients

- Facing difficulties adopting a team-based approach due to insufficient financial incentives

- Contextual factors influencing chronic disease management

CONCLUSION

The PCDMP provides promising opportunities for improving chronic care quality in primary care contexts. However, several challenges still need to be addressed

The provision of program guideline and financial incentives alone was not sufficient to drive sustainable change in chronic care

We must strive to improve the program’s compatibility with the current system and build a supportive environment for primary care physician in local clinics

ISQua's 39th International Conference 2023

PHYSICIANS' EXPERIENCES OF THE PRIMARY CARE CHRONIC DISEASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

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