Organizational Factors to Consider When Implementing Peer Support Initiatives in Medical Homes
| Structure |
| Uniform guidelines for determining eligibility, recruitment, and selection of peer support candidates. |
| Clear standards that define responsibilities, scope of work, competencies, performance standards, and reporting relationships that are tied to licensed professionals, such as nurses or social workers, in the medical home. |
| Operating procedures and back-up plans that allow peer supporters direct access to professional staff in the event of urgent or life threatening circumstances. |
| Clinical information systems that allow effective communication, at the appropriate level of patient health information, between peer supporters and professional staff. |
| Process |
| Orientation and ongoing training for peer support workers in interpersonal and communication skills, documentation and other administrative skills, and content and teaching skills for specific health promotion areas. |
| Effective dissemination of peer support services to medical home staff, area health care affiliates, and community stakeholders. |
| Ongoing monitoring of peer support services provided, with appropriate supervision. |
| Communication and documentation of peer support activities in a database that is accessible to medical home staff and retrievable for reporting and evaluation. |
| Outcomes |
| Clear and measurable goals and objectives in the following short-term and intermediate areas: patient-level outcomes, such as health and functional status measures; biometric and other disease state measures; patient-centered and other individual care process measures; organizational-level outcomes, such as access to care, health care utilization, costs of care and savings; and community-level outcomes, such as social capital. |