Continuity of care and the risk of preventable hospitalization in older adults.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Preventable hospitalizations are common among older adults for reasons that are not well understood.

Objective

To determine whether Medicare patients with ambulatory visit patterns indicating higher continuity of care have a lower risk of preventable hospitalization.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Setting

Ambulatory visits and hospital admissions.

Participants

Continuously enrolled fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries older than 65 years with at least 4 ambulatory visits in 2008.

Exposures

The concentration of patient visits with physicians measured for up to 24 months using the continuity of care score and usual provider continuity score on a scale from 0 to 1.

Main outcomes and measures

Index occurrence of any 1 of 13 pre

SUBMITTER: Nyweide DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3877937 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature