Attachment C -- Focus Group Introduction

Coordinating Care Focus Group Introduction:

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this discussion group today.  We will be talking about the redesigned system for referring patients between primary care and two specialties, OB and GI, and new tools and processes have been put into place to implement the new system.  The goal of this project is to look at the referral systems currently in place and evaluate how those systems could be streamlined to improve the referral system and the overall coordination of care. We would like to talk with you about how the new system is working.  Please remember that your participation is entirely voluntary, you can chose to stop or leave at any time, and we expect the discussion to last between 45-60 minutes.  We will be recording the conversation so that we can code it and qualitatively analyze it later. The information you provide will be aggregated with information from other respondents and kept confidential to the extent permitted by law..  Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Project PI, Carol VanDeusen Lukas at Carol.VanDeusenLukas@va.gov or by phone at (857)364-5685

[Approved by Boston University IRB, May 2009)]