PRIMARY-CARE PHYSICIANS USE OF OFFICE RESOURCES IN THE PROVISION OF PREVENTIVE CARE

Objectives: To assess (1) the extent to which office resources leg, ch art aids, educational materials, office staff) are used by primary car e physicians in the provision of preventive care; (2) the characterist ics of physicians associated with this use; and (3) the relationship o f office resource use to reported preventive service provision. Design : Survey. Randomly selected active members of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Kansas City, Mo, American Academy of Pediatrics, El k Grove Village, Ill, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologi sts, Washington, DC, and American College of Physicians, Philadelphia, Pa. Main Outcome Measures: Use rates for each of 14 types of office r esources, and scores for total office resource use, total preventive s ervice provision, and counseling, screening, and immunization provisio n. Results: Most types of office resources were used by less than 50% of the physicians. Physicians in small private practices reported less use of resources than those in other settings. The chart flow sheet w as the resource that was most strongly and consistently related to pre ventive service provision. For all organizations, the total resource u se score was significantly correlated with scores for total preventive service provision, and counseling and immunization provision. For mos t organizations, the total resource use score was more highly related to total preventive service provision than was the age or sex of the p hysician, the percentage of patients uninsured or with Medicaid covera ge, or community size. Conclusions: The use of office resources is an important factor in the provision of preventive care. Intervention eff orts to improve office resource use may benefit from targeting by reso urce type, practice setting, physician specialty, and other physician and practice characteristics.