National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report
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AHRQ Research Studies
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Research Studies is a compilation of published research articles funded by AHRQ or authored by AHRQ researchers.
Results
26 to 50 of 185 Research Studies DisplayedMacDonald J, Doyle L, Moore
Sustainment of proactive physical therapy for individuals with early-stage Parkinson's disease: a quality improvement study over 4 years.
The purpose of this study is to describe the process of sustaining a proactive physical therapy (PAPT) program in practice for 4 years for patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease. Sustainability was measured using RE-AIM, NHS Sustainability Model, and the Clinical Sustainability Assessment Tool. Reach increased from 28 to 110 total patients per year. The program sustained its effect to help participants increase or maintain self-reported exercise. Upon evaluation, PAPT users in year 3 had longer time since symptom onset and worse UPDRS motor scores compared to year 1 PAPT users.
AHRQ-funded; HS025077.
Citation: MacDonald J, Doyle L, Moore .
Sustainment of proactive physical therapy for individuals with early-stage Parkinson's disease: a quality improvement study over 4 years.
Implement Sci Commun 2021 Sep 27;2(1):111. doi: 10.1186/s43058-021-00205-x..
Keywords: Neurological Disorders, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Care Management
Holmgren AJ, Kuznetsova M, Classen D
Assessing hospital electronic health record vendor performance across publicly reported quality measures.
The authors measured hospital performance, stratified by electronic health record (EHR) vendor, across 4 quality metrics. They found that no EHR vendor was associated with higher quality across all measures, and the 2 largest vendors were not associated with the highest scores. Only a small fraction of quality variation was explained by EHR vendor choice. They concluded that top performance on quality measures can be achieved with any EHR vendor, as much of quality performance is driven by the hospital and how it uses the EHR.
AHRQ-funded; HS023696.
Citation: Holmgren AJ, Kuznetsova M, Classen D .
Assessing hospital electronic health record vendor performance across publicly reported quality measures.
J Am Med Inform Assoc 2021 Sep 18;28(10):2101-07. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocab120..
Keywords: Electronic Health Records (EHRs), Health Information Technology (HIT), Quality Indicators (QIs), Quality Measures, Hospitals, Quality of Care, Provider Performance
O'Kane M, Agrawal S, Binder L
AHRQ Author: Meyers D
An equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
The authors of this paper assert that the U.S. health system must take action to centralize equity, particularly racial equity (including ethnicity), in discussions of quality. In this discussion paper, the authors provide an analysis and delineation of the key elements of their racial equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
AHRQ-authored.
Citation: O'Kane M, Agrawal S, Binder L .
An equity agenda for the field of health care quality improvement.
NAM Perspect 2021 Sep 15;2021. doi: 10.31478/202109b..
Keywords: Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Disparities, Social Determinants of Health
Khodyakov D, Buttorff C, Xenakis L
Alignment between objective and subjective assessments of health system performance: findings from a mixed-methods study.
This study was a survey of health system executives to examine whether their performance assessments match objective performance assessments and qualitatively explore ways to achieve high performance. Interviews were conducted with 138 C-suite executives of 24 health systems in California, Minnesota, Washington, and Wisconsin between 2017 and 2019. The interviews were focused on executives’ perceptions of their own health system’s performance and factors they perceived generally contributed to high performance. The authors grouped health systems based on objective performance levels used in sampling and compared the ratings to executives’ subjective performance assessments. There was poor agreement between objective and subjective performance assessments. Executives whose views were inconsistent with objective assessments did not cite clinical care quality as their basis for their assessment but focused instead on market competition, financial performance, and high customer satisfaction and loyalty. Executives who cited clinical quality metrics had subjective ratings consistent with objective ratings.
AHRQ-funded; HS024067.
Citation: Khodyakov D, Buttorff C, Xenakis L .
Alignment between objective and subjective assessments of health system performance: findings from a mixed-methods study.
J Healthc Manag 2021 Sep-Oct;66(5):380-94. doi: 10.1097/jhm-d-20-00249..
Keywords: Health Systems, Quality of Care, Practice Improvement, Provider Performance
Lafferty M, Manojlovich M, Griggs JJ
Clinicians report barriers and facilitators to high-quality ambulatory oncology care.
This study’s aim was to examine clinician-reported factors within ambulatory oncology practices that affect care delivery processes and outcomes for patients and clinicians. Survey data were collected in 2017 from 298 clinicians across 29 ambulatory practices in Michigan. Clinicians provided written comments on 5 work-system components of the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety model that affected care delivery and outcome. Unfavorable aspects included staffing shortages and high patient volume, limited physical space, electronic health record usability issues, and order entry. Favorable aspects focused on the skills of colleagues, and collaboration and teamwork of the clinical staff.
AHRQ-funded; HS024914.
Citation: Lafferty M, Manojlovich M, Griggs JJ .
Clinicians report barriers and facilitators to high-quality ambulatory oncology care.
Cancer Nurs 2021 Sep-Oct;44(5):E303-E10. doi: 10.1097/ncc.0000000000000832..
Keywords: Ambulatory Care and Surgery, Healthcare Delivery, Quality of Care
Trent SA, George N, Havranek EP
Established evidence-based treatment guidelines help mitigate disparities in quality of emergency care.
Evidence-based guidelines are often cited as a means of ensuring high-quality care for all patients. The objective of this study was to assess whether emergency department (ED) adherence to core evidence-based guidelines differed by patient sex and race/ethnicity and to assess the effect of ED guideline adherence on patient outcomes by sex and race/ethnicity. The investigators concluded that longstanding, nationally reported evidence-based guidelines can help eliminate sex and race/ethnicity disparities in quality of care.
AHRQ-funded; HS022400.
Citation: Trent SA, George N, Havranek EP .
Established evidence-based treatment guidelines help mitigate disparities in quality of emergency care.
Acad Emerg Med 2021 Sep;28(9):1051-60. doi: 10.1111/acem.14235..
Keywords: Evidence-Based Practice, Guidelines, Emergency Department, Disparities, Quality of Care
Ye J, Zhang R, Bannon JE
Identifying practice facilitation delays and barriers in primary care quality improvement.
Practice facilitation is an effective approach to implementing quality improvement (QI) interventions in practice-based research networks (PBRNs). Regular facilitator-practice interactions are necessary for successful facilitation and missed engagements may hinder the process of practice improvement. This study employed a mixed-methods approach to characterize the dynamics of practice facilitation and examine facilitation delays and barriers, as well as their association with the achievement of QI program goals in a PBRN initiative.
AHRQ-funded; HS023921.
Citation: Ye J, Zhang R, Bannon JE .
Identifying practice facilitation delays and barriers in primary care quality improvement.
J Am Board Fam Med 2020 Sep-Oct;33(5):655-64. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2020.05.200058..
Keywords: Practice Improvement, Primary Care, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Markovitz AA, Ayanian JZ, Warrier A
Medicare Advantage plan double bonuses drive racial disparity in payments, yield no quality or enrollment improvements.
Using national data for 2008-18, investigators found that double bonuses were not associated with either improvements in plan quality or increased Medicare Advantage enrollment. Additionally, double bonuses increased payments to plans to care for Black beneficiaries by $60 per year, compared with $91 for White beneficiaries. These findings suggest that double bonuses not only fail to improve quality and enrollment but also foster a racially inequitable distribution of Medicare funds that disfavors Black beneficiaries. This study supports eliminating double bonuses, thereby saving Medicare an estimated $1.8 billion per year.
AHRQ-funded; HS000053.
Citation: Markovitz AA, Ayanian JZ, Warrier A .
Medicare Advantage plan double bonuses drive racial disparity in payments, yield no quality or enrollment improvements.
Health Aff 2021 Sep;40(9):1411-19. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00349..
Keywords: Medicare, Health Insurance, Payment, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Disparities, Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Quigley DD, Slaughter M, Qureshi N
Practices and changes associated with patient-centered medical home transformation.
Knowing which patient-centered medical home (PCMH) care delivery changes and quality improvement (QI) practices further PCMH implementation is essential. In this study, the investigators used the 2008-2017 National Committee of Quality Assurance (NCQA) PCMH directory of 15,188 primary care practices that received Level 1, 2, or 3 NCQA PCMH recognition to: 1.) construct a stratified national sample of 105 practices engaged in PCMH transformation and 2.) examine their QI practices and PCMH changes associated with PCMH transformation.
AHRQ-funded; HS016980; HS025920.
Citation: Quigley DD, Slaughter M, Qureshi N .
Practices and changes associated with patient-centered medical home transformation.
Am J Manag Care 2021 Sep;27(9):386-93. doi: 10.37765/ajmc.2021.88740..
Keywords: Patient-Centered Healthcare, Primary Care, Practice Improvement, Healthcare Delivery, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Carey K, Luo Q, Dor A
Quality and cost in community health centers.
This study’s objective was to explore the relationship between quality and average cost of medical visits provided in US Community Health Centers (CHCs) using composite measures of quality. The authors used the Uniform Data System collected by the Bureau of Primary Care to construct composite measures by combining 9 process and 2 outcome indicators of primary care quality provided in 1331 US CHCs during 2015-2018. They explored different weighting schemes and different combinations of individual quality indicators. They used generalized linear modeling to regress average cost of a medical visit on composite quality measures, controlling for patient and health center factors. The average cost of a medical visit was negatively associated with quality, although the magnitude of the effect varies with different weighting schemes.
AHRQ-funded; HS026816.
Citation: Carey K, Luo Q, Dor A .
Quality and cost in community health centers.
Med Care 2021 Sep;59(9):824-28. doi: 10.1097/mlr.0000000000001571.
AHRQ-funded; HS026816..
AHRQ-funded; HS026816..
Keywords: Community-Based Practice, Quality of Care, Healthcare Costs
Jiang HJ, Fingar KR, Liang L
AHRQ Author: Jiang HJ, Liang L
Quality of care before and after mergers and acquisitions of rural hospitals.
Researchers sought to examine changes in quality of care for patients at rural hospitals that merged compared with those that remained independent. Using HCUP data, they found that rural hospital mergers were associated with better mortality outcomes for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hip fracture, and pneumonia. They concluded that their finding is important to enhancing rural health care and reducing urban-rural disparities in quality of care.
AHRQ-authored; AHRQ-funded; 290201800001C.
Citation: Jiang HJ, Fingar KR, Liang L .
Quality of care before and after mergers and acquisitions of rural hospitals.
JAMA Netw Open 2021 Sep;4(9):e2124662. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.24662..
Keywords: Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Hospitals, Rural Health, Quality of Care
Connell SK, Burkhart Q, Tolpadi A
Quality of care for youth hospitalized for suicidal ideation and self-harm.
The authors examined performance on quality measures for pediatric inpatient suicidal ideation/self-harm care, and whether performance is associated with reutilization. Subjects were patients aged 5 to 17 years hospitalized for suicidal ideation/self-harm. Their findings revealed disparities and deficits in the quality of care received by youth with suicidal ideation/self-harm. They recommended providing caregivers lethal means restriction counseling prior to discharge in order to help prevent readmission.
AHRQ-funded; HS025291.
Citation: Connell SK, Burkhart Q, Tolpadi A .
Quality of care for youth hospitalized for suicidal ideation and self-harm.
Acad Pediatr 2021 Sep-Oct;21(7):1179-86. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.05.019..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Behavioral Health, Inpatient Care, Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Quigley DD, Qureshi N, AlMasarweh L
Using CAHPS patient experience data for patient-centered medical home transformation.
The purpose of this study was to examine how primary care practices used the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey and its patient-centered medical home (PCMH) items during their PCMH transition. The investigators concluded that CAHPS surveys were considered actionable for PCMH transformation and used in standardizing and coordinating care. The CAHPS PCMH items were considered integral to the continuous QI needed for moving beyond formal PCMH recognition and maximizing transformation.
AHRQ-funded; HS016980; HS025920.
Citation: Quigley DD, Qureshi N, AlMasarweh L .
Using CAHPS patient experience data for patient-centered medical home transformation.
Am J Manag Care 2021 Sep;27(9):e322-e29. doi: 10.37765/ajmc.2021.88745..
Keywords: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Patient Experience, Patient-Centered Healthcare, Primary Care, Practice Improvement, Healthcare Delivery, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Piwnica-Worms K, Staiger B, Ross JS
Effects of forced disruption in Medicaid managed care on children with asthma.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of a forced disruption to Medicaid managed care plans and provider networks on health utilization and outcomes for children with persistent asthma. The investigators concluded that while there was a decrease in the number of outpatient visits associated with forced disruption of Medicaid managed care plans for children with persistent asthma, there were no consistent associations with worse asthma quality performance or higher emergent health care utilization.
AHRQ-funded; HS022882; HS025164.
Citation: Piwnica-Worms K, Staiger B, Ross JS .
Effects of forced disruption in Medicaid managed care on children with asthma.
Health Serv Res 2021 Aug;56(4):668-76. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13643..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Medicaid, Asthma, Respiratory Conditions, Chronic Conditions, Quality of Care
Chilakamarri P, Finn EB, Sather J
Failure mode and effect analysis: engineering safer neurocritical care transitions.
Investigators presented failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) as a systems-engineering methodology to be applied to neurocritical care transitions to reduce failures in communication and improve patient safety. They described their local implementation of FMEA to improve the safety of inter-hospital transfer for patients with intracerebral and subarachnoid hemorrhage as evidence of success. They found that application of the FMEA approach yielded meaningful and sustained process change for patients with neurocritical care needs.
AHRQ-funded; HS023554.
Citation: Chilakamarri P, Finn EB, Sather J .
Failure mode and effect analysis: engineering safer neurocritical care transitions.
Neurocrit Care 2021 Aug;35(1):232-40. doi: 10.1007/s12028-020-01160-6..
Keywords: Patient Safety, Transitions of Care, Critical Care, Communication, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Schechter SB, Pantell MS, Parikh K
Impact of a national quality collaborative on pediatric asthma care quality by insurance status.
The objective of this study was to assess whether disparities in asthma care and outcomes based on insurance type existed before a national quality improvement (QI) collaborative, and to determine the effects of the collaborative on these disparities. The investigators concluded that at baseline, children with public insurance had higher asthma health care utilization than those with private insurance, despite receiving more evidence-based care.
AHRQ-funded; HS026383; HS024554; HS024592.
Citation: Schechter SB, Pantell MS, Parikh K .
Impact of a national quality collaborative on pediatric asthma care quality by insurance status.
Acad Pediatr 2021 Aug;21(6):1018-24. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2021.02.009..
Keywords: Children/Adolescents, Asthma, Chronic Conditions, Disparities, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Health Insurance
Ling VB, Levi EE, Harrington AR
The cost of improving care: a multisite economic analysis of hospital resource use for implementing recommended postpartum contraception programmes.
Researchers evaluated the cost of implementing immediate postpartum contraceptive services at four academic centers and one private hospital in the US. Using mixed-methods cost analysis, they found that pre-implementation activities required more resources than execution activities, and sites that used lower-cost employees observed lower costs per hour for implementation activities. Further, implementation activities and costs were associated with local contextual factors, including stakeholder acceptance, integration of employees, and infrastructure readiness for the change effort.
AHRQ-funded; HS025465; HS023784.
Citation: Ling VB, Levi EE, Harrington AR .
The cost of improving care: a multisite economic analysis of hospital resource use for implementing recommended postpartum contraception programmes.
BMJ Qual Saf 2021 Aug;30(8):658-67. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-011111..
Keywords: Healthcare Costs, Sexual Health, Women, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Cifra CL, Sittig DF, Singh H
Bridging the feedback gap: a sociotechnical approach to informing clinicians of patients' subsequent clinical course and outcomes.
This paper discusses challenges to the development of systems for effective patient outcome feedback to improve diagnosis and proposes the application of a sociotechnical approach using health information technology (HIT) to support the implementation of such systems. It discusses current barriers to effective clinician feedback, reasons for them, and features of potential IT solutions. Evaluation and implementation of the feedback process within a sociotechnical health system are then discussed. The authors use an eight-dimension sociotechnical model for studying health IT by authors Sittig and Singh. The eight dimensions are hardware and software; clinical content; human–computer interface; people; workflow and communication; organisational policies and procedures; external rules, regulations and pressures; and system measurement and monitoring. A table is included that shows the potential considerations for each dimension.
AHRQ-funded; 33201500022I; HS027363.
Citation: Cifra CL, Sittig DF, Singh H .
Bridging the feedback gap: a sociotechnical approach to informing clinicians of patients' subsequent clinical course and outcomes.
BMJ Qual Saf 2021 Jul;30(7):591-97. doi: 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012464..
Keywords: Health Information Technology (HIT), Diagnostic Safety and Quality, Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care
Murray DJ, Boulet JR, Boyle WA
Competence in decision making: setting performance standards for critical care.
Health care professionals must be able to make frequent and timely decisions that can alter the illness trajectory of intensive care patients. A competence standard for this ability is difficult to establish yet assuring practitioners can make appropriate judgments is an important step in advancing patient safety. In this study, the investigators hypothesized that simulation could be used effectively to assess decision-making competence.
AHRQ-funded; HS022265.
Citation: Murray DJ, Boulet JR, Boyle WA .
Competence in decision making: setting performance standards for critical care.
Anesth Analg 2021 Jul 1;133(1):142-50. doi: 10.1213/ane.0000000000005053..
Keywords: Critical Care, Shared Decision Making, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Simulation, Provider Performance, Patient Safety, Quality of Care
Berry CA, Nguyen AM, Cuthel AM
Measuring implementation strategy fidelity in HealthyHearts NYC: a complex intervention using practice facilitation in primary care.
This study measured implementation strategy fidelity for the HealthyHearts NYC intervention program, an AHRQ-funded program that uses practice facilitation (PF) to improve adoption of cardiovascular disease evidence-based guidelines in primary care practices. Data from 257 practices measured fidelity using 4 categories: frequency, duration, content, and coverage. Almost all (94.2%) of practices received at least the 13 PF visits with an average 26.3 hours spent at each site by facilitators. Most practices (95.7%) completed all Task List items, and 71.2% were educated on all Chronic Care Models, with the majority (65.8%) receiving full coverage.
AHRQ-funded; HS023922.
Citation: Berry CA, Nguyen AM, Cuthel AM .
Measuring implementation strategy fidelity in HealthyHearts NYC: a complex intervention using practice facilitation in primary care.
Am J Med Qual 2021 Jul-Aug;36(4):270-76. doi: 10.1177/1062860620959450..
Keywords: Implementation, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions, Primary Care, Practice Improvement, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Evidence-Based Practice, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Primary Care: Models of Care
Sherer MV, Lin D, Elguindi S
Metrics to evaluate the performance of auto-segmentation for radiation treatment planning: a critical review.
Metrics to evaluate the performance of auto-segmentation for radiation treatment planning: a critical review.
AHRQ-funded; HS026881.
Citation: Sherer MV, Lin D, Elguindi S .
Metrics to evaluate the performance of auto-segmentation for radiation treatment planning: a critical review.
Radiother Oncol 2021 Jul;160:185-91. doi: 10.1016/j.radonc.2021.05.003..
Keywords: Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Fagnan LJ, Ramsey K, Kline T
Place matters: closing the gap on rural primary care quality improvement capacity-the Healthy Hearts Northwest study.
This study compared rural independent and health system primary care practices with urban practices to external practice facilitation support in terms of recruitment, readiness, engagement, retention, and change in quality improvement (QI) capacity and quality metric performing. The Healthy Hearts Northwest quality improvement initiative consisting of 135 small or medium-sized primary care practices were used. The practices were stratified by geography, rural or urban, and by ownership. Changes in 3 clinical quality measures (CQMs): appropriate aspirin use, blood pressure (BP) control, and tobacco use screening, were measured at baseline in 2015 and follow-up in 2017. Rural practices were more likely to enroll than urban practices. Rural independent practices had the lowest QI capacity at baseline, making the largest gain in establishing a regular QI process. They made the greatest improvement in meeting the BP control CQM and the smoking cessation metric, from 72.3% to 86.7%.
AHRQ-funded; HS023908; HS023921.
Citation: Fagnan LJ, Ramsey K, Kline T .
Place matters: closing the gap on rural primary care quality improvement capacity-the Healthy Hearts Northwest study.
J Am Board Fam Med 2021 Jul-Aug;34(4):753-61. doi: 10.3122/jabfm.2021.04.210011..
Keywords: Rural Health, Primary Care, Primary Care: Models of Care, Practice Improvement, Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Heart Disease and Health, Cardiovascular Conditions
Abraham CM, Zheng K, Norful AA
Primary care nurse practitioner burnout and perceptions of quality of care.
Researchers investigated the relationship between primary care nurse practitioner (NP) burnout on perceptions of care quality and if the practice environment moderated the relationship between burnout and care quality. This was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data from 396 NPs; the practice environment was measured using the Nurse Practitioner Primary Care Organizational Climate Questionnaire. The researchers found that burnout was related to lower perceptions of care quality but favorable environments were related to higher perceptions of quality.
AHRQ-funded; HS027290.
Citation: Abraham CM, Zheng K, Norful AA .
Primary care nurse practitioner burnout and perceptions of quality of care.
Nurs Forum 2021 Jul;56(3):550-59. doi: 10.1111/nuf.12579..
Keywords: Burnout, Provider: Nurse, Primary Care, Quality of Care
Barbash IJ, Davis BS, Yabes JG
Treatment patterns and clinical outcomes after the introduction of the Medicare Sepsis Performance Measure (SEP-1).
This study evaluated the effect of Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Early Management Bundle (SEP-1) on treatment patterns and patient outcomes. Findings showed that, two years after its implementation, SEP-1 was associated with variable changes in process measures, with the greatest effect being an increase in lactate measurement within 3 hours of sepsis onset. There were small increases in antibiotic administration and fluid administration, a small increase in ICU admissions, and no changes in mortality or discharge to home.
Citation: Barbash IJ, Davis BS, Yabes JG .
Treatment patterns and clinical outcomes after the introduction of the Medicare Sepsis Performance Measure (SEP-1).
Ann Intern Med 2021 Jul;174(7):927-35. doi: 10.7326/m20-5043..
Keywords: Sepsis, Medicare, Outcomes, Quality Measures, Quality of Care
Pham-Singer H, Onakomaiya M, Cuthel A
Using a customer relationship management system to manage a quality improvement intervention.
HealthyHearts New York City (HHNYC), one of 7 cooperatives funded through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's EvidenceNOW initiative, evaluated the impact of practice facilitation on implementation of the Million Hearts guidelines for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. Tracking the intervention required a system to facilitate process data collection that was also user-friendly and flexible. Coupled with protocols and training, a strategically planned and customizable customer relationship management system (CRMS) was implemented to support the quality improvement intervention with 257 small independent practices.
AHRQ-funded; HS023922.
Citation: Pham-Singer H, Onakomaiya M, Cuthel A .
Using a customer relationship management system to manage a quality improvement intervention.
Am J Med Qual 2021 Jul-Aug;36(4):247-54. doi: 10.1177/1062860620953214..
Keywords: Quality Improvement, Quality of Care, Implementation, Evidence-Based Practice, Cardiovascular Conditions, Heart Disease and Health, Primary Care