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Achievable Benchmarks of Care for Primary Care Quality Indicators in a Practice-Based Research Network

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, wessell{at}musc.edu

Heather A. Liszka, MD, MSCR

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Paul J. Nietert, PhD

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Ruth G. Jenkins, PhD

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Lynne S. Nemeth, PhD, RN

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

Steven Ornstein, MD

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina

A number of sources publish health care quality reports in the United States, but there is limited information about achievable performance in primary care settings. The objective of this article is to report Achievable Benchmarks of Care (ABCs) for 54 quality indicators. Eighty-seven practices participating in a demonstration project in the Practice Partner Research Network (PPRNet), representing 35 US states and 711 969 patients, were included in the analyses. PPRNet practices use a common electronic medical record (Practice Partner, Seattle, Washington). ABCs ranged from 25% to 99%. High ABCs (90%) were achieved for blood pressure screening, lipid screening, and avoiding antibiotics in upper respiratory infection. Some calculated ABCs may be lower than the actual ABCs due to incomplete data recording or abstracting. Primary care practices can achieve high performance across a number of quality indicators, and PPRNet ABCs can serve as benchmarks for primary care practitioners and payers. (Am J Med Qual 2008;23:39-46)

Key Words: benchmarking • primary health care • quality indicators • practice-based research network

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