Continuity of care in family practice. Part 3: measurement and evaluation of continuity of care.
Continuity of care is basic to the value system of family practice. Yet it is not often treated as a measurable quality, and the role of "continuity" in improving the "outcome" of health care is infrequently evaluated. "Continuity" can be understood in terms of its elements: continuity of a professional relationship, continuity of information, and the actual delivery of service or care. These elements in turn can be related to outcome by means of a series of assertions or hypotheses which together constitute a "theory" of continuity of care. This paper develops these ideas and reviews existing research which has examined continuity of care.
D003191:Comprehensive Health Care; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014481:United States