The Economics of Patient-Centered Care

53 Pages Posted: 26 Sep 2017

See all articles by Guy David

Guy David

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Health Care Management

Phil Saynisch

Harvard University

Aaron Smith-McLallen

Independence Blue Cross

Date Written: September 26, 2017

Abstract

The Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a widely-implemented model for improving primary care, emphasizing care coordination, information technology, and process improvements. However, its treatment as an undifferentiated intervention obscures meaningful variation in implementation. This heterogeneity leads to contracting inefficiencies between insurers and practices and may account for mixed evidence on its success. Using a novel dataset we group practices into meaningful implementation clusters and then link these clusters with detailed patient claims data. We find implementation choice affects performance, suggesting that generally-unobserved features of primary care reorganization influence patient outcomes. Reporting these features may be valuable to insurers and their members.

Suggested Citation

David, Guy and Saynisch, Phil and Smith-McLallen, Aaron, The Economics of Patient-Centered Care (September 26, 2017). Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics Working Paper No. 15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3043025 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3043025

Guy David (Contact Author)

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Health Care Management ( email )

3641 Locust Walk
Colonial Penn Center
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6358
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/david.html

Phil Saynisch

Harvard University ( email )

Aaron Smith-McLallen

Independence Blue Cross ( email )

1901 Market St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
United States

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