High-quality, coordinated primary care improves outcomes for everyone: patients, providers, and payers. This level of care requires excellent communication – providers are expected to build strong relationships with patients, keep patients engaged in care delivery, and coordinate patient needs. Training staff in these growing tasks has been difficult, as COVID-19 disrupted all aspects of in-person gatherings, including training and coaching. However, as vaccines rolled out and therapeutics were developed, organizations started gathering in-person again, and the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) stood ready to help.

Enter Summit Health, a leading provider of primary and specialty care in the New York metropolitan area. Summit Health, recognizing the growing need for consistent care coordination capabilities sought to develop a training curriculum to better onboard new care management staff and upskill the current team in a rapidly changing health care environment.

PCDC worked closely with Summit Health leadership to develop a comprehensive four day train the trainer (TOT) program for both the care management staff and their internal learning and development team with the intent that the learning and development team would become equipped to deliver the training to new staff in an ongoing and sustainable manner. This packaged curriculum included slides, handouts, resources, and most importantly, a comprehensive training guide.

“While COVID-19 took a massive toll on our healthcare workers, we knew how vital it would be to have in-person training sessions again,” said Henrietta Croswell, MPH, Senior Director of Clinical and Quality Partners at PCDC. “We believe in the value of in-person training, which allows for better learning and interaction with our clients, and we look forward to continuing them as we emerge from the pandemic.”

“We wanted to work with PCDC because of their extensive training experience,” said Alyssa Lord, Vice President, Value-Based Care at Summit Health. “Thanks to the work by PCDC’s expert trainers, our exceptional care management team now has additional tools to provide high-quality, patient-centered care.”