PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - William J. Hueston
TI  - Does Having a Personal Physician Improve Quality of Care in Diabetes?
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2010.01.090102
DP  - 2010 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
PG  - 82--87
VI  - 23
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/23/1/82.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/23/1/82.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2010 Jan 01; 23
AB  - Purpose: Although having a continuous relationship with a physician is a defining feature of primary care, few studies have evaluated the effect of this on chronic disease management. This aim of this study was to examine whether having a regular physician is associated with improvements in reaching treatment goals for patients with diabetes.Methods: Through the use of a diabetes registry, patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus for a minimum of 6 months cared for in a large, single academic family medicine practice were compared based on whether they had a regular physician or not. The 2 groups were compared in the frequency in which they achieved goals for management of glycated hemoglobin, blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and other aspects of diabetes care.Results: Patients with a regular provider were slightly older than those without a provider (57.5 years vs. 50.9 years; P = .002), but the gender distribution and percent who were smokers was the same. In assessing diabetes quality measures, patients with a regular provider had lower average levels of glycated hemoglobin (7.70 vs 8.53; P = .01), but no difference was noted in the percentage achieving a goal of ≤7.0. No differences were noted between the groups in either the average systolic or diastolic blood pressures or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or in the percentages of patients achieving recognized goals for these measures. When examining other preventive services, patients with a regular provider were more likely to receive an influenza immunization within the last year (51.8% vs 35.6%; P = .02) but no more likely to receive a pneumococcal vaccine or take an aspirin each day.Conclusion: This study suggests that there are few benefits for patients with diabetes in having an established regular provider over having a regular place of service.