Organization and quality of care in patient-sharing networks

Healthcare systems seek to provide continuous and coordinated care of high quality. However, patient pathways in the ambulatory sector may differ and result in various provider units. Our aim was to analyze whether health outcomes and the quality of care differ between different types of patient-sharing physician networks. We analyzed administrative data on patients with diagnosed heart failure in Germany. We investigated distinct networks of ambulatory physicians by using a modular-based optimization algorithm and characterized each network as having either a key physician at its center or some other kind of configuration. We subsequently conducted multilevel regression analyses to estimate the impact a network's configuration has on hospitalization rates and guideline-based process indicators. We identified 1,847 networks, of which 27% had a key physician at their center. Compared to physician networks with other configurations, networks that had a key physician at their center were associated in our regression analysis with (a) somewhat lower hospitalization rates, and (b) heart failure treatment that was more frequently in concordance with the German national treatment guideline. Organizing healthcare for people with chronic disease into units that have a key physician at their center and include the relevant specialists may foster treatment that is effective and of higher quality.