Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Process measures or patient reported experience measures (PREMs) for comparing performance across providers? : A study of measures related to access and continuity in Swedish primary care

Glenngård, Anna LU and Anell, Anders LU (2018) In Primary health care research & development 19(01). p.23-32
Abstract
Aim: To study (a) the covariation between patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and registered process measures of access and continuity when ranking providers in a primary care setting, and (b) whether registered process measures or PREMs provided more or less information about potential linkages between levels of access and continuity and explaining variables. Background: Access and continuity are important objectives in primary care. They can be measured through registered process measures or PREMs. These measures do not necessarily converge in terms of outcomes. Patient views are affected by factors not necessarily reflecting quality of services. Results from surveys are often uncertain due to low response rates,... (More)
Aim: To study (a) the covariation between patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and registered process measures of access and continuity when ranking providers in a primary care setting, and (b) whether registered process measures or PREMs provided more or less information about potential linkages between levels of access and continuity and explaining variables. Background: Access and continuity are important objectives in primary care. They can be measured through registered process measures or PREMs. These measures do not necessarily converge in terms of outcomes. Patient views are affected by factors not necessarily reflecting quality of services. Results from surveys are often uncertain due to low response rates, particularly in vulnerable groups. The quality of process measures, on the other hand, may be influenced by registration practices and are often more easy to manipulate. With increased transparency and use of quality measures for management and governance purposes, knowledge about the pros and cons of using different measures to assess the performance across providers are important. Methods: Four regression models were developed with registered process measures and PREMs of access and continuity as dependent variables. Independent variables were characteristics of providers as well as geographical location and degree of competition facing providers. Data were taken from two large Swedish county councils. Findings: Although ranking of providers is sensitive to the measure used, the results suggest that providers performing well with respect to one measure also tended to perform well with respect to the other. As process measures are easier and quicker to collect they may be looked upon as the preferred option. PREMs were better than process measures when exploring factors that contributed to variation in performance across providers in our study; however, if the purpose of comparison is continuous learning and development of services, a combination of PREMs and registered measures may be the preferred option. Above all, our findings points towards the importance of a pre-analysis of the measures in use; to explore the pros and cons if measures are used for different purposes before they are put into (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
access, continuity, PREM, primary care, process measures, quality of care
in
Primary health care research & development
volume
19
issue
01
pages
23 - 32
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:85030838839
  • pmid:28914222
ISSN
1463-4236
DOI
10.1017/S1463423617000457
project
Public Management Research
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d95b3618-d2ae-4f27-80e6-53dd90b63b0f
date added to LUP
2017-09-29 09:11:26
date last changed
2022-04-25 02:48:17
@article{d95b3618-d2ae-4f27-80e6-53dd90b63b0f,
  abstract     = {{<b>Aim: </b>To study (a) the covariation between patient reported experience measures (PREMs) and registered process measures of access and continuity when ranking providers in a primary care setting, and (b) whether registered process measures or PREMs provided more or less information about potential linkages between levels of access and continuity and explaining variables. <b>Background: </b>Access and continuity are important objectives in primary care. They can be measured through registered process measures or PREMs. These measures do not necessarily converge in terms of outcomes. Patient views are affected by factors not necessarily reflecting quality of services. Results from surveys are often uncertain due to low response rates, particularly in vulnerable groups. The quality of process measures, on the other hand, may be influenced by registration practices and are often more easy to manipulate. With increased transparency and use of quality measures for management and governance purposes, knowledge about the pros and cons of using different measures to assess the performance across providers are important. <b>Methods: </b>Four regression models were developed with registered process measures and PREMs of access and continuity as dependent variables. Independent variables were characteristics of providers as well as geographical location and degree of competition facing providers. Data were taken from two large Swedish county councils. <b>Findings: </b>Although ranking of providers is sensitive to the measure used, the results suggest that providers performing well with respect to one measure also tended to perform well with respect to the other. As process measures are easier and quicker to collect they may be looked upon as the preferred option. PREMs were better than process measures when exploring factors that contributed to variation in performance across providers in our study; however, if the purpose of comparison is continuous learning and development of services, a combination of PREMs and registered measures may be the preferred option. Above all, our findings points towards the importance of a pre-analysis of the measures in use; to explore the pros and cons if measures are used for different purposes before they are put into}},
  author       = {{Glenngård, Anna and Anell, Anders}},
  issn         = {{1463-4236}},
  keywords     = {{access; continuity; PREM; primary care; process measures; quality of care}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{01}},
  pages        = {{23--32}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Primary health care research & development}},
  title        = {{Process measures or patient reported experience measures (PREMs) for comparing performance across providers? : A study of measures related to access and continuity in Swedish primary care}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1463423617000457}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/S1463423617000457}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}