Association of primary care visit length with outpatient utilization, continuity, and care processes.
Fam Pract
; 2023 Dec 20.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38124495
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Little is known about how variation in the scheduled length of primary care visits can impact patients' patterns of health care utilization.OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate how the scheduled length of in-person visits with primary care physicians (PCPs) was associated with PCP and patient characteristics, outpatient utilization, and preventive care receipt.METHODS:
This retrospective cohort study examined data from a large American academic health system. PCP visit length template was defined as either 15- and 30-min scheduled appointments (i.e. 15/30), or 20- and 40-min scheduled appointments (i.e. 20/40).RESULTS:
Of 222 included PCPs, 85 (38.3%) used the 15/30 template and 137 (61.7%) used the 20/40 template. The 15/30 group had higher proportions of male (49.4%, vs. 35.8% in the 20/40 group) and family medicine (37.6% vs. 21.2%) physicians. In adjusted patient-level analysis (N = 238,806), having a 15/30 PCP was associated with 9% more primary care visits (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.09; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.14), and 8% fewer specialty care visits (IRR, 0.92; 95% CI, 0.86-0.98). PCP visit length template was not associated with significant differences in obstetrics/gynaecology visits, continuity of care, or preventive care receipt. In interaction analyses, having a 15/30 PCP was associated with additional primary care visits among non-Hispanic White patients (IRR, 1.10; 95% CI, 1.04-1.16) but not among non-Hispanic Black patients.CONCLUSION:
PCPs' choices about the scheduled length of in-person visits may impact their patients' specialty care use, and have varying impacts across different racial/ethnic groups.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Temas:
Cuidados_paliativos
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Geral
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Fam Pract
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Estados Unidos