ArticleBMJ open2018
Effect of family practice contract services on the quality of primary care in Guangzhou, China: a cross-sectional study using PCAT-AE.
Article in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Insufficient evidence on the effectiveness of family physician program in Iran: a systematic review of existing literature.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of family doctor contract services for chronic diseases management in China: a mixed-methods systematic review.BMC primary care · 2025Pooled it
- Factors Influencing the Implementation of Foreign Innovations in Organization and Management of Health Service Delivery in China: A Systematic Review.Frontiers in health services · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of the Family Doctor Contracting System on unmet healthcare needs in Shandong Province, China.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Health outcomes, financial protection, and cost-effectiveness of community chronic disease management in China: a cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Observational
- Why do they sign but not consult? A study on the effectiveness of China's family doctor contract services from the perspective of patient-doctor interaction.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Community participation and contracting between state and non-state actors in primary care: A scoping review of evidence.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Primary care functional features and their health impact on patients enrolled in the Shanghai family doctor service: a mixed-methods study.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- The effect of family physician team processes on chronic disease management performance from a structural network perspective.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- The impact of family doctor contract services on the utilization of and satisfaction with primary health care among Chinese residents: A cross-sectional study.Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2024Article
- Factors influencing contracting of residents with family doctors in China: a national cross-sectional survey.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- The association of family doctor contract service and patient trust in doctor: evidence from twenty-five village clinics of three counties in rural China.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Impact of Family Doctor Contract Services on Preventable Hospitalizations Amongst Patients with Hypertension in Rural China: Mediating Role of Primary Healthcare Quality.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2024Article
- Evaluation and countermeasures of contracted services of Chinese family doctors from demanders' point of view - a case study of a city.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Primary Health Institutions and Service Quality in China: Implications for Health Policy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Analysis of inequality in the distribution of general practitioners in China: evidence from 2012 to 2018.Primary health care research & development · 2022Article
- Stated preferences for family doctor contract services: a survey of the rural elderly in Anhui Province, China.BMJ open · 2022Article
- Effects of Family Doctor Contract Services on the Health-Related Quality of Life Among Individuals With Diabetes in China: Evidence From the CHARLS.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Development and Validation of a Rapid Assessment Version of the Assessment Survey of Primary Care in China.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Effect of Family Practice Contract Services on the Perceived Quality of Primary Care among Patients with Multimorbidity: A Cross-Sectional Study in Guangdong, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveCurrent healthcare reform in China has an overall goal of strengthening primary care and establishing a family practice system based on contract services. The objective of this study was to determine whether contracting a general practitioner (GP) could improve quality of primary care.
designA cross-sectional study using two-stage sampling conducted from June to September 2014. Propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to control for confounding between patients with and without contracted GP.
settingThree community health centres in Guangzhou, China.
participants698 patients aged 18-89 years.
main outcome measuresThe quality of primary care was measured using a validated Chinese version of primary care assessment tool (PCAT). Eight domains are included (first contact utilisation, accessibility, continuity, comprehensiveness, coordination, family-centredness, community orientation and cultural competence from patient's perceptions).
resultsA total of 692 effective samples were included for data analysis. After PSM, 94 pairs of patients were matched between the patients with and without contracted GPs. The total PCAT score, continuity (3.12 vs 2.68, p<0.01), comprehensiveness (2.31 vs 2.04, p<0.01) and family-centredness (2.11 vs 1.79, p<0.01) were higher in patients who contracted GPs than those did not. However, the domains of first contact utilisation (2.74 vs 2.87, p=0.14) and coordination (1.76 vs 1.93, p<0.05) were lower among patients contracted with GPs than in those who did not.
conclusionOur findings demonstrated that patients who had a contracted GP tend to experience higher quality of primary care. Our study provided evidence for health policies aiming to promote the implementation of family practice contract services. Our results also highlight further emphases on the features of primary care, first contact services and coordination services in particular.
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