Association between primary care appointment lengths and subsequent ambulatory reassessment, emergency department care, and hospitalization: a cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

To meet increasing demand, healthcare systems may leverage shorter appointment lengths to compensate for a limited supply of primary care providers (PCPs). Limiting the time spent with patients when evaluating acute health needs may adversely affect quality of care and increase subsequent healthcare utilization; however, the impact of brief duration appointments on healthcare utilization in the United States has not been examined. This study aimed to assess for potential inferiority of shorter (15-min) primary care appointments compare to longer (≥ 30-min appointments) with respect to downstream healthcare utilization within 7 days of the initial appointment.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study using electronic health record (EHR), billing, and admin

SUBMITTER: Swanson KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8900401 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature