Patient experience during a large primary care practice transformation initiative

To determine how the multipayer Comprehensive Primary Care (CPC) initiative that transformed primary care delivery affected patient experience of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries. The study examines whether patient experience changed during the 4-year initiative, whether ratings of CPC practices changed relative to ratings of comparison practices, and areas in which practices still have an opportunity to improve patient experience.

Prospective study using 2 cross-sectional samples of more than 25,000 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries attributed to 490 CPC practices and more than 8000 beneficiaries attributed to 736 comparison practices.

We analyzed patient experience 8 to 12 months and 45 to 48 months after CPC began, measured using 5 domains of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Clinician and Group survey with Patient-Centered Medical Home items, version 2.0. A regression-adjusted analysis compared differences in the proportion of beneficiaries giving the best responses (and, as a sensitivity test, mean responses) to survey questions over time and between CPC and comparison practices.

Patient ratings of care over time were generally comparable for CPC and comparison practices. CPC had favorable effects on measures of follow-up care after hospitalizations and emergency department visits.

Practice transformation did not alter patient experience. The lack of favorable findings raises questions about how future efforts in primary care can succeed in improving patient experience.