The healthcare industry often considers small physician practices the underdogs when it comes to having the resources to put robust systems into place, but a new study published in Health Affairs suggests that offices with fewer doctors provide higher-quality care.
Researchers measured the number of hospital admissions that could have been prevented through primary care, otherwise known as ambulatory care–sensitive admissions. Practices with one to two physicians had 33 percent fewer admissions than practices with 10 to 19 physicians, and practices with three to nine physicians had 27 percent fewer preventable admissions, according to data from the National Study of Small and Medium-Sized Physician Practices and surveys of 1,745 physician practices. In addition, physician-owned practices had fewer preventable admissions than hospital-owned practices, noted a Health Affairs blog post.
These results are significant in a time of rapid healthcare consolidation, marked by numerous physician practice mergers and purchases by hospitals. Although the study results do not prove cause and effect, the authors speculate that small practices may offer some less-easily measured quality advantages.
"It's possible that there are closer connections among patients, physicians and staff in smaller practices," Lawrence Casalino, Ph.D., the Livingston Farrand Professor of Public Health, a professor in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell and the study's principle investigator, said in an announcement. "It may also be that it is easier for patients to reach their physician by phone and to be seen the same day, if necessary, in smaller practices."
Most U.S. healthcare consumers might agree with that hypothesis, as 59 percent ranked doctor-patient relationships as a top indicator of quality, according to a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research FiercePracticeManagement reported previously.
To learn more:
- see the abstract
- read the post
- check out the announcement