title: The quality of chronic disease care in U.S. community health centers.
abstract: Community health centers (CHCs) are responsible for providing care for more than fifteen million Americans, many of whom are members of groups who have been documented to receive low-quality care. This study examines the quality of care for patients with chronic disease in a nationally representative sample of federally funded CHCs. Fewer than half of eligible patients received appropriate care for the majority of indicators measured, and uninsured patients received poorer care than insured patients. Although the quality of chronic disease care in CHCs compares favorably with that of care received in other settings, gaps in quality were observed for the uninsured.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. hicks@hcp.med.harvard.edu
authors.forename: LeRoi S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hicks
authors.forename: A James
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.forename: Tracy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Lieu
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Keegan
authors.forename: Nakela L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.forename: Barbara J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: McNeil
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Landon
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Guadagnoli
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy*; D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D035082:Federal Government; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017057:Medically Uninsured / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014481:United States