New study shows fewer patients see primary care doc while in hospital

A study published in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association highlights another interesting point about the continuum of care. I posted twice in the past couple of weeks about reducing rehospitalizations, (last week the CMS announced a pilot project to reduce readmissions) and often one indicator that a patient will avoid rehospitalization is if he or she already has a follow-up appointment booked with a primary care physician (PCP), or specialist after being discharged.

The new study shows that hospitalized Medicare patients age 66 and older are less often being visited by a PCP or other doctor with whom they have been in contact during the past year while during their hospital stays. The study examined enrollment and data claims and found that in 1996, 50.5% of patients in this age group were seen by at least one doctor with whom they’d had some contact with in the last year during a hospital stay. That percentage dropped to 39.8% in 2006. A similar trend occurs when looking specifically at visits by a PCP: in 1996 44.3 % of patients were visited by their PCP during a hospital stay and in 2006, only 31.9% were.

The authors of the study intended to examine the role of the continuum of care plays in keeping patients age 66 and older healthy. One reason for this decrease in visits by a PCP or specialist is the increase in the number of hospitalists that are present in hospitals today. Hospitalists often orchestrate a patient’s care while he or she is inside the hospital and may do some of the tasks that PCPs do when they visit a patient in the hospital.

To read the JAMA article, click here.