The process of care delivery includes location of hard-to-reach clients; linkage to health care providers; integration of care among providers for clients diagnosed with HIV, mental illness, and substance abuse; and strategies to promote retention in health care.
Less formal feedback mechanisms (e.g., phone calls, e-mails, faxes) were also used with referral partners to inform them about the client's linkage status.
However, the quality of the probabilistic matching process is highly dependent on the quality of the data provided, and in the case of DVA clients, important linkage variables such as name, date of birth and death and address histories are well documented.
The other problem that was given little attention but can have a major impact in the implementation of care and support activities is the lack of client referral and linkage between caregivers and organization.
After the 6 months elapsed, the researchers returned to the intervention sites to measure sustainment of organizational linkages and client referral patterns.
The MATICCE study protocol included a 6-month sustainment period to allow the researchers to assess whether any gains in interorganizational linkages and client referrals were sustained beyond the active intervention period.
Drawing on the research we conducted in Nicaragua in 2008, we, the joint authors of this paper share insights that we hope can help to upgrade the practices currently being employed by both microfinancers and children's educational institutions, and to thereby strengthen academic-credit linkages within client households.
In this paper, we report on the linkages through client referrals.
When it was not logistically feasible to meet with a client in person, the linkage coordinator attempted to call while the client was still with the HIV post-test counselor.
This framework analyses the performance of practitioners, the contributions of patients and of the health care system; the social preferences of clients, and the causal linkages among the structural attributes of the settings in which care occurs, as well as the processes of care, and the outcomes of care.
