[A study of referral pattern of group practice centers in Taiwan]

To investigate the referral patterns of group practice centers in Taiwan, 18 group practice centers were studied. These study sites were sampled in a stratified random method over four districts (eastern, northern, central, and southern) in Taiwan. The study period took place between July 1989 and June 1990. Prospective referral forms were applied in every study site during the 12-month period. A computer-assisted data base for referral contents was established to follow up referral cases. During the study period, 1,647 referrals were generated from 735,534 patient visits, for an overall referral rate of 0.22 percent of all office visits. According to the International Classification of Health Problems in Primary Care, 2nd edition, most of the problems that needed referral were signs, symptoms, ill-defined conditions, digestive system diseases, genitourinary system diseases, circulatory system diseases, neoplasms and musculoskeletal, connective tissue diseases. The top 6 consulting specialties were internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, orthopedics, urology and pediatrics. Periodic evaluation of the dynamic referral contents is a useful method to improve the quality of primary medical care.