title: Evaluation of the quality of care in the clinical care centers of the National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health.
abstract: This study evaluated the quality of primary care services provided in 15 National Centers of Excellence in Women's Health (CoE) clinical sites in operation in 2001 using self-reported clinical preventive services and patient satisfaction as indicators of quality of care. A sample of 3,111 women served by the CoE program was surveyed and compared with quality of care benchmarks from national and local community surveys. The benchmark surveys were: a nationally representative sample of 2,075 women from the 1998 Commonwealth Fund Survey of Women's Health; a community sample of women who lived within a geographical catchment area for three CoEs; and a sample of 71,438 women in the 1999 Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS) of commercial managed care plans. Adjusting for region, age, education, perceived health status, and managed care enrollment, women in the CoEs were more satisfied with their care and had received significantly more screening tests and counseling services than women in the benchmark samples. The largest effects among primary care services were for physical breast examination, mammogram (ages 50+), and counseling for smoking, domestic violence, and sexually transmitted diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Roger T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Carol S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Weisman
authors.forename: Sarah Hudson
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Scholle
authors.forename: Jillian T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oldendick
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Camacho
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000592:standards; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D014481:United States; D014483:United States Dept. of Health and Human Services; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*