Distinguishing High- and Low-Performing Physician Organizations Based on Patient Perceptions of Care Integration, Phase

With prior funding from The Commonwealth Fund and the Kaiser Permanente Community Benefit, Harvard’s Sara Singer and colleagues developed and validated the Patient Perception of Integrated Care survey to help identify health care organizations that provide their patients with well-coordinated, team-based care. The researchers have now collected data from 150 physician organizations on patients’ views of the level of integration in their care. In the next phase of work, Singer’s team will examine physician practice characteristics associated with high levels of care integration. Patients’ survey responses will be linked with data on structural indicators of integration, including governance, information exchange, and provider referral relationships. The team will then visit 12 practices to identify integration facilitators and barriers, particularly with respect to the care delivered to high-need, high-cost patients.