Association between continuity of care and avoidable hospitalization

January 01, 0001

Association between continuity of care and avoidable hospitalization

This study by Taiwanese authors aimed to examine the effects of continuity of care on avoidable hospitalization and hospital admission for any condition in a health care system with a high level of access to care. They used a longitudinal design to examine claims data that captured health care utilization between January 2000, and December 2006, under a universal coverage health insurance program in Chinese Taipei. In total, 30,830 randomly selected subjects with 3 or more physician visits per year between 2000 and 2006 were analyzed in 3 age groups.

They found: "Higher continuity of care was significantly associated with lower likelihood of avoidable hospitalization in all 3 age groups. Similar associations were found for hospital admission for any condition in the 3 age groups."

The authors concluded: "Better continuity of care is associated with fewer avoidable hospitalizations and fewer hospital admissions for any condition in a health care system with easy access to care. Therefore, improvement of continuity of care is an appropriate path to follow in a universal coverage health care system."

This study provides indirect evidence that continuity of care leads to better outcomes for patients.


For the full abstract, click here.

Arch Intern Med 170(18):1671-1677, 11 October 2010 © 2010 to the American Medical Association
A Longitudinal Examination of Continuity of Care and Avoidable Hospitalization-Evidence From a Universal Coverage Health Care System. Shou-Hsia Cheng, Chi-Chen Chen, Yen-Fei Hou. Correspondence to Dr. Cheng: [email protected]

Category: HSR. Health Services Research. Keywords: continuity of care, access to care, hospitalization, observational study, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 2 November 2010 2010

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

COVID-19 Resources

WONCA webinars, journal links and more

WONCA position statements

WONCA statements on a variety of issues

PEARLS

577 Individual behavioural counselling helps people to quit smoking 575 Antioxidant vitamin and mineral supplements may be beneficial in age-related macular degeneration 574 Oral antifungals effective for toenail onychomycosis 570 Decision aids beneficial for people facing health treatment or screening decisions 569 Computer-generated reminders on paper benefit quality of care