Dataset Information

Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care.

ABSTRACT:

Background

No primary practice care model has been shown to be superior in achieving high-quality primary care. We aimed to identify the organizational characteristics of primary care practices that provide high-quality primary care.

Methods

We performed a cross-sectional observational study involving a stratified random sample of 37 primary care practices from 3 regions of Quebec. We recruited 1457 patients who had 1 of 2 chronic care conditions or 1 of 6 episodic care conditions. The main outcome was the overall technical quality score. We measured organizational characteristics by use of a validated questionnaire and the Team Climate Inventory. Statistical analyses were based on multilevel regression modelling.

Results

The following characteristics were strongly associated with overall technical quality of care score: physician remuneration method (27.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 19.0-35.0), extent of sharing of administrative resources (7.6; 95% CI 0.8-14.4), presence of allied health professionals (15.3; 95% CI 5.4-25.2) and/or specialist physicians (19.6; 95% CI 8.3-30.9), the presence of mechanisms for maintaining or evaluating competence (7.7; 95% CI 3.0-12.4) and average organizational access to the practice (4.9; 95% CI 2.6-7.2). The number of physicians (1.2; 95% CI 0.6-1.8) and the average Team Climate Inventory score (1.3; 95% CI 0.1-2.5) were modestly associated with high-quality care.

Interpretation

We identified a common set of organizational characteristics associated with high-quality primary care. Many of these characteristics are amenable to change through practice-level organizational changes.

SUBMITTER: Beaulieu MD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3761041 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care.

Beaulieu Marie-Dominique MD Haggerty Jeannie J Tousignant Pierre P Barnsley Janet J Hogg William W Geneau Robert R Hudon Éveline É Duplain Réjean R Denis Jean-Louis JL Bonin Lucie L Del Grande Claudio C Dragieva Natalyia N

CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne 20130722 12

<h4>Background</h4>No primary practice care model has been shown to be superior in achieving high-quality primary care. We aimed to identify the organizational characteristics of primary care practices that provide high-quality primary care.<h4>Methods</h4>We performed a cross-sectional observational study involving a stratified random sample of 37 primary care practices from 3 regions of Quebec. We recruited 1457 patients who had 1 of 2 chronic care conditions or 1 of 6 episodic care conditions ...[more]

PMID: 23877669

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Dataset Information

Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care.

Background

Methods

Results

Interpretation

Publications

Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care.

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