Solo Practitioners Remain Important Contributors to Primary Care

Article Figures & Data

Table 1. Proportion of Solo Practitioners and Small Practice Sites in Primary Care^*

	All Six States (%)	Connecticut (%)	Idaho (%)	Kansas (%)	Tennessee (%)	Utah (%)	Washington (%)
Practice site size defined by number of physicians
Proportion of physicians at sites with 1 physician	13	20	14	11	20	7	8
Proportion of sites with 1 or 2 physicians	65	70	62	61	74	52	55
With 1 physician	46	50	43	41	55	34	40
With 2 physicians	19	20	19	20	19	18	15
Practice site size defined by number of clinicians^{^†}
Proportion of clinicians at sites with 1 clinician	8	14	6	6	11	4	5
Proportion of sites with 1 or 2 clinicians	53	62	48	47	60	39	47
With 1 clinician	34	42	26	28	38	22	32
With 2 clinicians	19	20	22	19	22	17	15

↵* This table includes all practice sites in the region that have at least 1 primary care physician; about 12% of these practice sites have both specialists and primary care physicians. Data are based on author analysis of data from SK&A. Practice site size is defined by the total number of physicians or clinicians who practice at the site, not just those in primary care.
↵† Clinicians include physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

Table 2. Characteristics of Practice Sites that Provide Primary Care by Size

	Sites With 1 Clinician	Sites With 2 Clinicians	Sites With ≥3 Clinicians
Community characteristics
Medically underserved area (%)	22	21	18
Population living in rural area (%)	25	28	24
Median annual household income ($)	53,465	51,658	52,821
Medicare beneficiary characteristics, 2011-2012
Eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid (%)	27	26	24
Average HCC score	1.07	1.07	1.04
Average hospitalizations per person per year (n)	0.28	0.30	0.30
Average annual Medicare Part A and B expenditures ($)	8,048	8,358	8,390
Participation in delivery system innovations
Practices with at least 1 Medicare meaningful user in 2012 (%)	13	18	26
Practices with NCQA PCMH recognition in 2012 (%)	2	5	9

Data are based on author analysis of data from SK&A, Medicare enrollment and claims, National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Health Resources and Services Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Area Resource File.
HCC, hierarchical condition category; PCMH, patient-centered medical home.