Practice Features Associated With Patient-Reported Accessibility, Continuity, and Coordination of Primary Health Care
Ann Fam Med Haggerty et al.
6: 116
The Article in Brief
Practice Features Associated With Patient-Reported Accessibility, Continuity, and Coordination of Primary Health Care
Jeannie L. Haggerty, PhD
, and colleagues
Background In this study in Quebec, Canada, researchers measure the organizational and professional characteristics of primary care practice that are associated with accessible care, continuity (an ongoing patient-doctor relationship), and coordination of care between different clinicians.
What This Study Found The way the medical practice is organized influences both continuity and accessible care. This includes offering care in the evenings, access to telephone advice, and establishing operational agreements with other health care establishments. Patients in this study have little confidence that they can get needed care from the clinician of their choice in a time frame that is appropriate to the urgency of the problem, but they have positive assessments of continuity and coordination between their family physician and specialists.
Implications
- The study suggests ways to organize and deliver primary health care for better accessibility and continuity, especially in the Canadian health care system.
- Telephone access for patients is an important feature.
