Table A2. Interaction Between Interspecialty Communication and Ambulatory Care–Sensitive Hospitalizations for Patients With Chronic Conditions, Stratified by Personal Primary Care Physician's Level of Health Information Technology Use (Unadjusted Percentages)

	PQI Hospitalizations in 2008 or 2009 (%)
	Low HIT	Medium HIT	High HIT
PCP communicates with patient and with other specialists about specialist care received
Lower tercile (reference)	2.47	2.82	2.78
Middle tercile	2.09	2.50	2.45
Upper tercile	2.50	2.04	1.90
P value	<.0001	<.0001	<.0001

The first column is the subgroup of beneficiaries in practices whose usual physician has low health information technology (HIT) use, the middle column has medium HIT use and the far right column has high HIT use.
Data source: Linked data from the nationally representative Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) Physician Survey (2008) and Medicare fee-for-service claims for the years 2007 to 2009 for all beneficiaries for whom a physician from the HSC national survey was their usual source of care. Usual source of care was determined by the plurality algorithm for evaluation and management visits.
Ambulatory care–sensitive conditions (ACSCs) examined included congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and diabetes. ACSC hospitalizations for any one or more of these conditions (combined rate) were calculated using claims for 2008 and 2009 (the numerator). The denominator for all analyses is the 123,760 patients with one or more of these chronic conditions (identified in 2007–2008 claims).
PCP, primary care physician; PQI, prevention quality indicators.