The Article in Brief

Describing Primary Care Encounters: The Primary Care Network Survey and the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey

Helen J. Binns, MD,MPH , and colleagues

Background Practice-based research networks (PBRNs) are groups of practices that join together to conduct research and quality improvement activities. Many primary care PBRNs, however, do not have accurate, up-to-date data describing their members and patients, information that is necessary for conducting studies. Twenty PBRNs administered the Primary Care Network Survey to collect data about clinicians and patient visits, while testing the survey for use by other PBRNs.

What This Study Found Clinicians who took the survey included doctors (89%), doctors in residency training (4%), advanced practice nurses/nurse-practitioners (5%), and physician’s assistants (2%). Most (53%) specialize in pediatrics, 34% in family medicine, and 9% in internal medicine. Compared with the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, these participants had more visits for preventive care and had more children, members of minority racial groups, and low-income individuals in their practices.

Implications

• The Primary Care Network Survey is the first systematic effort to catalog health care delivery in primary care offices by a large, diverse group of PBRN members.
• These results help describe delivery of health care services in primary care offices and may offer a more in-depth view of particular aspects of primary care. The results are also important for examining research questions in PBRNs.