Hospital and Specialist Performance Metrics – Continuity of Care Results

Communication is an essential component of quality medical care. Written or verbal communication between Primary Care Physicians (PCP), specialists and other practitioners helps provide effective follow-up care and improves patient safety. If a doctor or other health care professional knows all the pertinent information such as changes to medications or treatment plans, medical errors are less likely to occur and improvements in health may be quicker.

To ensure this important communication is taking place, MVP reviews medical records at PCP’s offices every year looking for evidence of communication from the specialist or provider. Results from 2008 are available by clicking on the type of data you are interested in. To review this data for a hospital, click on either the hospital inpatient or emergency room results.

If you receive treatment from more than one health care professional or facility, it is important that they report your progress to each other.

Below are some tips that you can follow to help facilitate this process:

• Always keep the name, phone number and address of your PCP handy. Even if the information is not asked for, offer to provide this information to other health care professionals you see.
• Ask your health care professionals to send pertinent information to your PCP.
• Keep copies of the following items from your medical record and bring them to each office visit in case the practitioner has not obtained them from your PCP:
  • Medication list
  • Recent physical exam
  • Important test results

We hope you find this information helpful and we welcome your feedback. Please send your questions or comments to MVP's Quality Improvement Department sbornt@mvphealthcare.com.