Annals of family medicine
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Annals of family medicine · May 2023
Triaging Patients With Artificial Intelligence for Respiratory Symptoms in Primary Care to Improve Patient Outcomes: A Retrospective Diagnostic Accuracy Study.
Respiratory symptoms are the most common presenting complaint in primary care. Often these symptoms are self resolving, but they can indicate a severe illness. With increasing physician workload and health care costs, triaging patients before in-person consultations would be helpful, possibly offering low-risk patients other means of communication. The objective of this study was to train a machine learning model to triage patients with respiratory symptoms before visiting a primary care clinic and examine patient outcomes in the context of the triage. ⋯ The model triaged patients in line with expected outcomes. The model can reduce the number of CXR referrals by eliminating them in risk groups 1 through 5, thus decreasing clinically insignificant incidentaloma findings without input from clinicians.
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Annals of family medicine · May 2023
ReviewThe Impact of Interpersonal Continuity of Primary Care on Health Care Costs and Use: A Critical Review.
Interpersonal continuity has been shown to play an essential role in primary care's salutary effects. Amid 2 decades of rapid evolution in the health care payment model, we sought to summarize the range of peer-reviewed literature relating continuity to health care costs and use, information critical to assessing the need for continuity measurement in value-based payment design. ⋯ Interpersonal continuity today remains significantly associated with lower health care costs and more appropriate use. Further research is needed to disaggregate these associations at the clinician, team, practice, and system levels, but continuity assessment is clearly important to designing value-based payment for primary care.