Does Patient Assessment of the Quality of the Primary Care They Receive Predict Subsequent Outcomes?: An Oklahoma Physicians Resource/Research Network (OKPRN) Study

Background: We analyzed data from a cohort of 782 older patients assembled in 1999 to 2000 to determine whether their baseline assessments of the quality of their primary care measured using the Components of Primary Care Index (CPCI) were associated with subsequent changes in health-related quality of life and/or survival.

Methods: Longitudinal growth curve models were used to analyze changes in Quality of Well-Being scores over an average of 2.07 years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to identify variables associated with mortality over an average of 8.91 years (6,966 person-years). To reduce confounding by severity of illness, subjects were stratified into 3 groups based on disability and use rates. Within subgroups, we controlled for number of chronic illnesses and scores on the General Health subscale of the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36. We also controlled for baseline age, gender, marital status, income, body mass index, educational attainment, duration of the relationship with current primary care physician, and number of visits to the primary care physician in the year before enrollment. Analyses took into account clustering of patients within primary care physician.

Results: Neither total CPCI nor any CPCI subscale score was associated with Quality of Well-Being Self-administered Scale change over time or survival.

Conclusions: Assuming that effective primary care results in better health-related quality of life and longer survival and that the CPCI captures important primary care attributes, older patients' level of satisfaction with the quality of their primary care may not be a good surrogate measure of effectiveness.