Researchers document and test new continuity of care measure

Continuity of care is essential to the clinician/patient relationship within family medicine. However, researchers have few ways to track continuity of care as a measurement of clinical quality.

Researchers developed the Physician Level Continuity of Care Measure (or CoC measure for short), which only recently received full National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsement. In this paper, researchers present the results of rigorous validity and reliability testing for the CoC measure required for NQF endorsement.

The researchers found that when physician CoC scores increased, the number of patients with any emergency department visits decreased. The authors argue that conducting additional research on this validated measure of continuity could help shift physician and health system behavior to support care continuity.

The research was published in The Annals of Family Medicine.