Title
Methodological challenges of measuring primary care delivery to pediatric medicaid beneficiaries who use community health centers
UMMS Affiliation
Center for Health Policy and Research; Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Date
2-1-2013
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Community Health Centers; Quality of Health Care; Quality Indicators, Health Care; Child Health Services; Medicaid; Primary Health Care
Disciplines
Community Health and Preventive Medicine | Health Services Research | Pediatrics | Primary Care
Abstract
Efforts to measure quality of care have focused on ambulatory care providers. We examined the performance of community health centers serving children on Medicaid in 3 states. Descriptive analysis showed considerable patient population heterogeneity, and regression analysis demonstrated that variation explained by the assigned provider was small (mean R(2) = 4.3%) compared with the variation explained by patient demographic variables (mean R(2) = 29.9%). The results reinforce the need for caution when one is attributing quality differences to provider performance.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: Am J Public Health. 2013 Feb;103(2):273-5. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300884. Link to article on publisher's site