Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35217988›Full record

ArticleAdvances in experimental medicine and biology2022

The Impact of Change in Hospital Admissions When Primary Care Is Provided by a Single Primary Care Physician: A Cohort Study Among HMO Patients in Israel.

Y Fogelman, E Merzon, S Vinker, E Kitai, G Blumberg, A Golan-Cohen

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. What makes general practice work: the role of continuity in efficient and sustainable primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Y FogelmanLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel. yfogelman@gmail.com.
E MerzonLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5469-0236
S VinkerLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
E KitaiLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
G BlumbergLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.
A Golan-CohenLeumit Health Services, Tel Aviv, Israel.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2406-6402

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesAn Israeli health maintenance organization (HMO) changed its policy from freedom of choice in choosing any primary care physician (PCP) to provide health care to one provider allocated to the patients. We examined outcome measures before and after the intervention in the study population.

designDuring a 2.5-year period (from June 2013 to December 2015), continuity of care by PCPs was achieved by a single provider. The change was computed for each participant according to the most visited PCP in the last year.

participantsA total of 208,286 patients aged 20 and older fulfilled the inclusion criteria.

main outcome measuresFuture likelihood of hospitalization, number of PCP visits, and medication use before and after the intervention.

resultsAfter controlling for demographics, high continuity of care before and after intervention was associated with a lower likelihood of hospitalization for any condition (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.95; p = 0.003). No significant change was recorded for number of ambulatory visits or medication use.

conclusionsChanging Leumit HMO policy to continuity of care with a single provider is associated with a decreased future likelihood of hospitalization. This suggests that policies that encourage patients to concentrate their care with a single provider may lead to lower hospitalization rates and possibly lower healthcare costs.

Indexed as

Health Maintenance OrganizationsPhysicians, Primary CareCohort StudiesHospitalizationHospitalsHumansIsraelPrimary Health CareContinuity of careHealthcare costsHealth care organizationPrimary care physician

Identifiers

PMID35217988

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.