A New Comprehensive Measure of High-Value Aspects of Primary Care

Rebecca S. Etz, PhD
Stephen J. Zyzanski, PhD
Martha M. Gonzalez
Sarah R. Reves, MSN, FNP-C
Jonathan P. O’Neal
Kurt C. Stange, MD, PhD

To develop and evaluate a concise measure of primary care that is grounded in the experience of patients, clinicians, and health care payers… Read the article.

---

The Lost Pillar: Does Continuity of Care Still Matter?

By: David Loxterkamp, MD

Continuity of care has long held a hallowed place in the halls of family medicine. Indeed, it is one of the 4 pillars of an ideal family practice, along with first contact, comprehensive, and coordinated care… Read the article.

---

More Comprehensive Care Among Family Physicians is Associated with Lower Costs and Fewer Hospitalizations

Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH
Stephen Petterson, PhD
Lars E. Peterson, MD, PhD
Robert L. Phillips Jr, MD, MSPH

Comprehensiveness is lauded as 1 of the 5 core virtues of primary care, but its relationship with outcomes is unclear. We measured associations between variations in comprehensiveness of practice among family physicians and healthcare utilization and costs for their Medicare beneficiaries… Read the article.

---

Higher Primary Care Physician Continuity is Associated With Lower Costs and Hospitalizations

Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPHStephen Petterson, PhD
Lars E. Peterson, MD, PhD
Richard Bruno, MD, MPH
Yoonkyung Chung, PhD
Robert L. Phillips Jr, MD, MSPH

Continuity of care is a defining characteristic of primary care associated with lower costs and improved health equity and care quality. However, we lack provider-level measures of primary care continuity amenable to value-based payment, including the Medicare Quality Payment Program (QPP)… Read the article.

---

Interpersonal Continuity of Care and Care Outcomes: A Critical Review

John W. Saultz, MD
Jennifer Lochner, MD

We wanted to undertake a critical review of the medical literature
regarding the relationships between interpersonal continuity of care and the outcomes
and cost of health care… Read the article.

---

Interpersonal Continuity of Care and Patient Satisfaction: A Critical Review

John W. Saultz, MD
Waleed Albedaiwi, MD

We wanted to review the medical literature regarding the relationship
between interpersonal continuity of care and patient satisfaction and suggest
future strategies for research on this topic… Read the article.

---

Physician versus Practice-Level Primary Care Continuity and Association with Outcomes in Medicare Beneficiaries

Mingliang Dai, Ph.D., MS
Jill Shuemaker, RN, CPHIMS
Lars Peterson, M.D., Ph.D.
Robert Phillips, M.D., MSPH
YoonKyung Chung, Ph.D.

To compare physician versus practice-level primary care continuity and their
association with expenditure and acute care utilization among Medicare beneficiaries and evaluate if continuity of outpatient primary care at either/both physician or/and practice level could be useful quality measures… Read the article.

---

Primary Care Physician Characteristics Associated with Low Value Care Spending

Tyler W. Barreto, MD
Yoonkyung Chung, PhD
Peter Wingrove, BS
Richard A. Young, MD
Stephen Petterson, PhD
Andrew Bazemore, MD, MPH
and Winston Liaw, MD, MPH

Previous work has shown that $210 billion may be spent annually on unnecessary medical services and has identified patient and hospital characteristics associated with low value care (LVC). However, little is known about the association between primary care physician (PCP) characteristics and LVC spending. The objective of this study was to assess this association… Read the article.

---

Primary Care Physicians and Spending on Low-Value Care

Aaron Baum, PhD
Andrew Bazemore,MD, MPH
Lars Peterson,MD, PhD
Sanjay Basu,MD, PhD
Keith Humphreys, PhD
Robert L. Phillips,MD, MPH

Low-value services account for $75 billion to
$100 billion of U.S. health care spending (1). Primary care physicians
(PCPs) have been conceptualized as potential gatekeepers
for efforts to reduce low-value spending, but the share of
low-value spending directly related to their services and referral
decisions remains unclear… Read the article.

---

The Lost Pillar: Does Continuity of Care Still Matter?

By: David Loxterkamp, MD

Continuity of care has long held a hallowed place in the halls of family medicine.
Indeed, it is one of the 4 pillars of an ideal family practice, along with first contact,
comprehensive, and coordinated care. But what does it mean to the patient,
the doctor, and our sense of identity and purpose? Read the article Read the article.

---

Continuity of Care bibliography

By: Zachary Merenstein
Pre-Med Student, University of Maryland

With guidance and assistance from Alison Morris, Mikel Severson, and Andrew Bazemore, ABFM & the Center for Professionalism & Value Download the Bibliography.

---

Comprehensiveness–The Need to Resurrect a Sagging Pillar of Primary Care

Tracey L. Henry MD, MPH, MS,
Eugene C. Rich MD
Andrew Bazemore MD, MPH

Journal of General Internal Medicine (2021)

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted both the importance of primary care and the fragility of its current infrastructure in the United States (US). Within its first 2 months, stark reminders of racial injustice, unaddressed health disparities, and grossly inequitable access to healthcare further underscored the current lack and future importance of universal access to high-performing primary care… Read the article.

---

Clinical Quality Measures in a Post-Pandemic World: Measuring What Matters in Family Medicine (ABFM)

Jill C. Shuemaker
Robert L. Phillips
Warren P. Newton

The Annals of Family Medicine (July 2020)

COVID-19 altered the way the American public lived their lives; the way they worked, ate, socialized, traveled, and ultimately received their health care. Family Medicine largely closed its doors to face-to-face preventive and chronic care visits and made a large shift to telephone and online video visits… Read the article.