Continuity of Care – It Matters to Patients

Continuity of care is one of the pillars of high-quality primary care. It matters to patients and it is essential to a high-functioning health care system.  The national Measures That Matter for Primary Care initiative, coming from the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care, is creating a suite of new clinical quality measures aimed at simplifying and improving measurement in primary care practice, including four core measures: Person-Centered Primary Care, Continuity of Care, Comprehensiveness of Care, and Low Value Care, all in the process of development to become endorsed clinical quality measures in the future. This effort involves an array of data, including the PRIME Registry, Medicare claims, and state All-Payor Claims data sets, and outstanding partners such as the AAFP’s Robert Graham Center, Stanford University’s Division of Population Health, and Harvard University’s Center for Primary Care.  Look for future publications, resources, and bibliographies describing this work as it evolves.