Patients 'Connected' to a Specific Physician More Likely to Receive Recommended Care

04 mar 2009--Patients who use a single primary care physician are more likely to receive guideline-consistent care, reports Annals of Internal Medicine.

Researchers assessed whether some 156,000 adults seen at 13 practices in a primary care network were considered "connected" to a particular physician, and then examined whether connectedness was associated with quality of care. (Connectedness was determined using an algorithm that predicted the likelihood that a physician would identify a patient as "my patient.")

In adjusted analyses, patients who were connected to a specific physician were significantly more likely to receive guideline-recommended cancer screenings and chronic disease management, compared with those connected to only a practice.

An editorialist says the findings "make a strong case" that a personal physician improves quality — which has important implications for promoting a "patient-centered medical home" approach to primary care.

LINK(S):

Annals of Internal Medicine article (Free abstract; full text requires subscription)

Annals of Internal Medicine editorial (Subscription required)