Analysis of Continuity of Care and Related Factors in Diabetes Patients in Korea

Abstract

Background: Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases with approximately 463 million patients worldwide. It is established that to manage diabetes, continuity of care in primary care setting is crucial. We aim to statistically define and analyze factors of continuity that are associated with patient, clinic and geographical relationship.Methods: We used 2014~2015 claim data from National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), with 39,096 eligible outpatient attendances across 29,912 office-based clinics. We applied multivariable logistic regression to analyze factors that may affect three kinds of continuity of care index for each patient: most frequent provider continuity index (MFPC), modified-modified continuity index (MMCI), and continuity of care index (COC). Results: Mean value of continuity of care indices were MFPC 0.90, MMCI 0.96, COC 0.85. Among patient factors, old age above 80 (MFPC 0.81 [0.74-0.89], MMCI 0.84 [0.76-0.92], COC 0.81 [0.74-0.89]) and disability were strongly associated with lower continuity of care. Another significant factor was residential area: further the patients lived from their primary care clinic, lower the continuity of diabetes care (MFPC 0.74 [0.70–0.78], MMCI 0.70 [0.66–0.73], COC 0.74 [0.70–0.78]). Patients who lived in metropolitan area had higher continuity of care compared to other areas (metropolitan area, MFPC 1.19 [1.17-1.27], MMCI 1.17 [1.10-1.25], COC 1.19 [1.12-1.27]). There was no statistical significance among clinic factors, such as number of hired physicians or nurses hired per clinic, between the lower and the higher continuity of care groups.Conclusion: Geographical proximity of patient’s residential area and clinic location showed highest correlation as factor of continuity. Political support is necessary to geographically align the imbalance of supply and demand of medical needs.