Capitated Payments to Primary Care Providers and the Delivery of Patient Education

Article Figures & Data

Table 1. Visit Characteristics (n = 9863) by Levels of Practice Capitation

Visit Characteristics	Levels of Capitated Payments
Visit Characteristics	<25%	25–50%	51–75%	>75%
Visits (n)	8584	582	537	160
Weighted n (in millions)	347.1	15.2	19.4	7.1
Mean age of patients, years	42.6 (39.6–45.5)	39.0 (26.6–51.4)	31.1 (9.5–52.6)	40.0 (24.0–55.9)
Female (%)	57.4 (55.4–59.4)	46.7 (39.2–54.4)	56.8 (48.1–65.1)	67.0 (57.7–75.2)
Mean visits in past 12 months	4.8 (4.5–5.1)	4.4 (3.7–5.1)	4.8 (3.1–6.5)	3.7 (3.0–4.5)
Mean chronic illnesses managed	1.4 (1.2–1.5)	1.4 (0.8–2.0)	1.2 (0.1–2.3)	1.7 (0.9–2.4)
Mean medications managed	2.9 (2.6–3.2)	2.7 (2.0–3.3)	2.5 (1.2–3.9)	2.8 (2.0–3.6)
Patients seen before in the practice	97.0 (96.4–97.6)	96.2 (92.9–98.0)	97.4 (97.4–98.8)	93.8 (87.1–97.1)
Medicare/private insurance as expected source of payment	83.0 (78.8–86.5)	83.2 (67.9–92.0)	58.7 (32.6–86.7)	79.4 (56.0–90.2)

Values are percentage estimates (95% confidence intervals) unless otherwise indicated. Data are taken from the 2009 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Table 3. Logistic Regression Models Demonstrating the Likelihood of Patient Education by Level of Practice Capitation

Level of Practice Capitation (%)	β	Odds Ratio	95% Confidence Interval
Unadjusted model
>75	1.34	3.81	1.44–10.09
50–75	−0.18	0.83	0.50–1.38
25–50	−0.21	0.81	0.40–1.62
<25	Reference	Reference	Reference
Adjusted model^*
>75	1.22	3.38	1.23–9.30
50–75	−0.21	0.81	0.53–1.25
25–50	−0.26	0.77	0.38–1.58
<25	Reference	Reference	Reference

Total visits, n = 9863. Data are taken from the 2009 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.
↵* Controlling for age and sex of patient, whether patient has been seen in practice before, number of visits to the practice in previous 12 months, number of chronic medical conditions, number of medications managed, expected payment source for the visit, and ownership of the practice.