How Physician Organizations Manage Care for High-Need, High-Cost Patients

As a rising share of U.S. health care expenditures is devoted to the care of medically complex individuals, delivering higher-value care to this population has become a priority. Yet little is known about the characteristics of physician organizations that may affect outcomes for these often high-need, high-cost patients, or whether organizations that specialize in treating complex patients have better outcomes than those that do not. This project will link survey data on physician practice size, governance, care management processes, compensation models, and quality improvement approaches with Medicare claims data to identify organizational and structural features associated with high-value care. The research team will coordinate with Commonwealth Fund grantee Sara Singer, who is analyzing data on patients’ perceptions of care integration, a key component of effective care for high-need patients.