We tested the association between medical home characteristics and measures of technical quality and patient experience of care in the 21 clinics of a large medical group that had all achieved level III recognition from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. There was substantial variation among them in both scores on the recognition instrument and in clinic performance measures. However, the few statistically significant associations that were identified disappeared when correction for multiple analyses was applied. We conclude that among primary care clinics recognized as high-level medical homes, the instrument used to assess medical home characteristics cannot differentiate their quality.
HealthPartners Research Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota (Drs Solberg and Flottemesch and Mr Asche); University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Dr Fontaine); and National Committee for Quality Assurance, Washington, District of Columbia (Drs Scholle and Pawlson).
Correspondence: Leif I. Solberg, HealthPartners Research Foundation, PO Box 1524, MS #21111R; Minneapolis, MN 55440 (leif.i.solberg@healthpartners.com).
We thank the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for funding this study and for the helpful review and comments by David Lanier at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In addition, we thank our colleagues in various positions at HealthPartners who have helped in the collection and understanding of the various data elements used in these analyses. That includes Ann Hanson, Beth Averbeck, Nancy Salazar, Krista Van Vorst, Sue Gentilli, Gary Kitching, and Ann Harste.
