Defining primary care sensitive conditions: a necessity for effective primary care delivery? (original) (raw)
Related papers
The role of primary care in preventing ambulatory care sensitive conditions
The European Journal of Public Health, 2004
Background: To examine the postulated relationship between Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) and Primary Health Care (PHC) in the US context for the European context, in order to develop an ACSC list as markers of PHC effectiveness and to specify which PHC activities are primarily responsible for reducing hospitalization rates. Methods: To apply the criteria proposed by Solberg and Weissman to obtain a list of codes of ACSC and to consider the PHC intervention according to a panel of experts. Five selection criteria: i) existence of prior studies; ii) hospitalization rate at least 1/10,000 or 'risky health problem'; iii) clarity in definition and coding; iv) potentially avoidable hospitalization through PHC; v) hospitalization necessary when health problem occurs. Fulfilment of all criteria was required for developing the final ACSC list. A sample of 248,050 discharges corresponding to 2,248,976 inhabitants of Catalonia in 1996 provided hospitalization rate data. A Delphi survey was performed with a group of 44 experts reviewing 113 ICD diagnostic codes (International Classification of Diseases, 9 th Revision, Clinical Modification), previously considered to be ACSC. Results: The five criteria selected 61 ICD as a core list of ACSC codes and 90 ICD for an expanded list. Conclusions: A core list of ACSC as markers of PHC effectiveness identifies health conditions amenable to specific aspects of PHC and minimizes the limitations attributable to variations in hospital admission policies. An expanded list should be useful to evaluate global PHC performance and to analyse market responsibility for ACSC by PHC and Specialist Care.
Trends in primary care in the United Kingdom
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 1983
Trends in primary care in the United Kingdom were studied using the diagnostic information available at Intercontinental Medical Statistics Ltd (IMS) for 1969-80. Total consultation rates overall showed an increase until 1978 when they started to decline. Diseases of the respiratory system showed a decline for first consultations. Diseases of the musculoskeletal and connective tissue and diseases of the nervous system and sense organs showed an increase. Diseases of the respiratory system, circulatory system, and mental disorders accounted for 15-4%, 11.2%, and 9*6% respectively of the total consultations in 1980. Neuroses and personality disorders accounted for the highest consultation rates in general practice. This study identifies areas for further research in general practice and the potential of this data base, if expanded, for the continuous monitoring of morbidity in primary care.
BMC Health Services Research, 2012
Background: Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs) are those for which hospitalisation is thought to be avoidable with the application of preventive care and early disease management, usually delivered in a primary care setting. ACSCs are used extensively as indicators of accessibility and effectiveness of primary health care. We examined the association between patient characteristics and hospitalisation for ACSCs in the adult and paediatric population in Victoria, Australia, 2003/04. Methods: Hospital admissions data were merged with two area-level socioeconomic indexes: Index of SocioEconomic Disadvantage (IRSED) and Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). Univariate and multiple logistic regressions were performed for both adult (age 18+ years) and paediatric (age <18 years) groups, reporting odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for a number of predictors of ACSCs admissions compared to non-ACSCs admissions. Results: Predictors were much more strongly associated with ACSCs admissions compared to non-ACSCs admissions in the adult group than for the paediatric group with the exception of rurality. Significant adjusted ORs in the adult group were 1.06, 1.15, 1.13, 1.06 and 1.11 for sex, rurality, age, IRSED and ARIA variables, and 1.34, 1.04 and 1.09 in the paediatric group for rurality, IRSED and ARIA, respectively. Conclusions: Disadvantaged paediatric and adult population experience more need of hospital care for ACSCs. Access barriers to primary care are plausible causes for the observed disparities. Understanding the characteristics of individuals experiencing access barriers to primary care will be useful for developing targeted interventions meeting the unique ambulatory needs of the population.
BMC Family Practice
Background: Hospital admissions for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) are those that could potentially be prevented by timely and effective disease management within primary care. ACSC admissions are increasingly used as performance indicators. However, key questions remain about the validity of these measures. The evidence to date has been inconclusive and limited to specific conditions. The aim of this study was to test the robustness of ACSC admissions as indicators of the quality of primary care. It is the first study to examine a wide range of ACSCs using longitudinal data which enables us to control for unmeasured characteristics which differ by practice but which are constant over time. Methods: Using longitudinal data at the practice level, from 907 Scottish practices for the time period 1/4/2005 to 31/32012, we explored the relationships between the quality of primary care, and hospital admissions for multiple ACSCs controlling for a wide range of covariates including characteristics of GP practices, characteristics of the practice population, hospital effects and year effects. We examined the impact of two dimensions of quality of care: clinical quality of and access to daytime general practice. Generalised Estimating Equations taking the form of Negative Binomial regression models with the practice population included as the exposure term were estimated. Results: We found that higher achievement on some clinical quality measures of primary care was associated with reduced ACSC emergency admissions. We also show that access to primary care was associated with ACSC emergency admissions. However, the effects were small and inconsistent and ACSC emergency admissions were associated with several confounding factors such as deprivation, rurality and distance to the hospital. Conclusions: The results suggest caution in the use of crude ACSC admission rates as a performance indicator of quality of primary care.
BMJ open, 2018
To design and pilot a survey to be used at the population level to estimate the frequency of patient-perceived potentially harmful preventable problems occurring in UK primary care. To explore the nature of the problems, patient-suggested strategies for prevention and opinions of clinicians and the public regarding the potential for harm. A survey was codesigned by three members of the public and one researcher and piloted through public and patient involvement and engagement networks. Self-selected sample of the UK population. 977 members of the public accessed the online survey during October and November 2015. Respondent feedback about the ease of completion of the survey, quality of responses in terms of review by clinicians and members of the public, preliminary estimates of the frequency and nature of patient-perceived potentially harmful problems occurring in the last 12 months. 638 (65%) members of the public completed the survey and few respondents reported any difficulty i...
BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2017
To assess whether continuity of care with a general practitioner is associated with hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions for older patients. Cross sectional study. Linked primary and secondary care records from 200 general practices participating in the Clinical Practice Research Datalink in England. 230 472 patients aged between 62 and 82 years and who experienced at least two contacts with a general practitioner between April 2011 and March 2013. Number of hospital admissions for ambulatory care sensitive conditions (those considered manageable in primary care) per patient between April 2011 and March 2013. We assessed continuity of care using the usual provider of care index, which we defined as the proportion of contacts occurring between April 2011 and March 2013 that were with the most frequently seen general practitioner. On average, the usual provider of care index score was 0.61. Continuity of care was lower among practices with more doctors (a...
BMC Health Services Research, 2013
Background: Primary health care is recognised as an integral part of a country's health care system. Measuring hospitalisations, that could potentially be avoided with high quality and accessible primary care, is one indicator of how well primary care services are performing. This review was interested in the association between chronic disease related hospitalisations and primary health care resourcing. Methods: Studies were included if peer reviewed, written in English, published between 2002 and 2012, modelled hospitalisation as a function of PHC resourcing and identified hospitalisations for type 2 diabetes as a study outcome measure. Access and use of PHC services were used as a proxy for PHC resourcing. Studies in populations with a predominant user pay system were excluded to eliminate patient financial barriers to PHC access and utilisation. Articles were systematically excluded based on the inclusion criteria, to arrive at the final set of studies for review. Results: The search strategy identified 1778 potential articles using EconLit, Medline and Google Scholar databases. Ten articles met the inclusion criteria and were subject to review. PHC resources were quantified by workforce (either medical or nursing) numbers, number of primary care episodes, service availability (e.g. operating hours), primary care practice size (e.g. single or group practitioner practice-a larger practice has more care disciplines onsite), or financial incentive to improve quality of diabetes care. The association between medical workforce numbers and ACSC hospitalisations was mixed. Four of six studies found that less patients per doctor was significantly associated with a decrease in ambulatory care sensitive hospitalisations, one study found the opposite and one study did not find a significant association between the two. When results were categorised by PHC access (e.g. GPs/capita, range of services) and use (e.g. n outpatient visits), better access to quality PHC resulted in fewer ACSC hospitalisations. This finding remained when only studies that adjusted for health status were categorised. Financial incentives to improve the quality of diabetes care were associated with less ACSC hospitalisations, reported in one study.
Primary care under threat: time for the Government to address the urgent challenges
BMJ Publishing Group, 2020
We are grateful to Levene and colleagues for discussing current issues and future priorities for primary care in the post-covid-19 era.(1) However, we were surprised that health promotion, a crucial component of holistic care was not mentioned.(2) At the First International Conference on Health Promotion in 1986 the World Health Organisation succinctly described health promotion as "the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health."(3) Importantly, health promotion can play significant roles at all stages of wellness and disease, that is at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. But general practice has remained largely focused on secondary and tertiary.