--- title: "Standardizing primary care physician panels. | Sutter Health" description: "To determine if patient clinical conditions need to be considered when assessing primary care physician workload in the context of standardizing panel sizes." url: "https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652" --- 1. [Home](https://www.sutterhealth.org/) / 2. [Research](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research) / 3. [Research publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications) / 4. Standardizing primary care physician panels. # Standardizing primary care physician panels: is age and sex good enough? Chung S, Eaton LJ, & Luft HS. _Am J Manag Care. 18(7):e262-8.PMID:22823555_ 2012-07-01 ## Abstract ****OBJECTIVES:**** To determine if patient clinical conditions need to be considered when assessing primary care physician (PCP) workload in the context of standardizing panel sizes. ****STUDY DESIGN:**** Work resource value units (wRVUs) were used to standardize PCP panel workload. Standardized panels were created using (1) age and sex- and (2) clinical condition-based risk indicators. Billing data were used for all patients, regardless of insurance, for PCPs in a group practice (n = 190). Weighting methods were assessed for subgroups based on PCP specialty (family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics) and patient age (adults vs children) and for different levels of aggregation (patient vs PCP). ****METHODS:**** Groupwide weights based on wRVUs of all primary care services delivered during the year were applied to individual patients and then aggregated to PCP panels. For age/sex weighting, only patient age and sex were taken into account. For condition-based weighting, 1275 disease categories, based on a combination of episode treatment groups (ETGs) and age and/or sex, were used. ****RESULTS:**** As expected, at the patient level, condition-based weights were far more discriminative than age/sex. At the PCP level, this discrimination was less important; panel weights varied 1.9- (age/sex-based) to 2.6-fold (condition-based) across PCPs. Correlations between the 2 weighting methods were high (r = 0.93) for child panels and moderate (r = 0.71) for adult panels (all P <.001). ****CONCLUSIONS:**** The heterogeneity of PCP panels should be considered when assessing PCP workload for panel management. Panel variability in workload is well captured by age/sex-based weights for children, but for adults condition-based adjustment may be necessary. [PubMed abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22823555) ## Research topics - [Health Policy](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?query=%22%5C%22Health+Policy%5C%22%22) - [Health Services](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?query=%22%5C%22Health+Services%5C%22%22) ## Related publications [View all publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?verticalKey=research_publication) - Publication ### [Public reporting of provider performance at a crossroads in the United States: summary of current barriers and recommendations on how to move forward.](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/public-reporting-of-provider-performance-barrriers-1055312919) Hussey PS, Luft HS, McNamara P. Med Care Res Rev. 71(5 Suppl):5S-16S. doi: 10.1177/1077558714535980. Epub 2014 May 27. 2014 Oct 01 - Publication ### [Physician practice participation in accountable care organizations: the emergence of the unicorn.](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/physician-practice-participation-in-acos-1055312896) Shortell SM, McClellan SR, Ramsay PP, Casalino LP, Ryan AM, Copeland KR. Health Serv Res. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.12167. \[Epub ahead of print\] 2014 Mar 15 - Publication ### [Does consumer satisfaction information matter? Evidence on member retention in FEHBP plans.](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/consumer-satisfaction-fehbp-plans-1055312559) Tai-Seale M. Med Care Res Rev. 61(2):171-86. 2004 Jun 01 - Publication ### [Shared decision making as part of value based care: new U.S. policies challenge our readiness.](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/shared-decision-making-new-united-states-policies-1055312408) Spatz ES, Elwyn G, Moulton BW, Volk RJ, Frosch DL. Z Evid Fortbild Qual Gesundhwes. pii: S1865-9217(17)30087-9. doi: 10.1016/j.zefq.2017.05.012. \[Epub ahead of print\] 2017 May 20 - Publication ### [Patients report better satisfaction with part-time primary care physicians, despite less continuity of care and access.](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/patient-satisfaction-with-part-time-pcps-1055312882) Panattoni L, Stone A, Chung S, Tai-Seale M. J Gen Intern Med. \[Epub ahead of print\] 2014 Nov 22 [View all publications](https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?verticalKey=research_publication) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Sutter Health","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/#medicalorganization","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org","logo":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/static/images/sutter-health-logo.svg","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","streetAddress":"2200 River Plaza Drive","addressLocality":"Sacramento","addressRegion":"CA","postalCode":"95833","addressCountry":"US"},"areaServed":{"@type":"AdministrativeArea","name":"California"},"sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/SutterHealth","https://www.instagram.com/sutterhealth/","https://x.com/SutterHealth","https://www.youtube.com/sutterhealth","https://www.linkedin.com/company/sutter-health","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health"]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652#breadcrumblist","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Research","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Research publications","item":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Standardizing primary care physician panels."}]} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"MedicalScholarlyArticle","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652#medicalscholarlyarticle","name":"Standardizing primary care physician panels: is age and sex good enough?","headline":"Standardizing primary care physician panels.","abstract":"OBJECTIVES: To determine if patient clinical conditions need to be considered when assessing primary care physician (PCP) workload in the context of standardizing panel sizes. STUDY DESIGN: Work resource value units (wRVUs) were used to standardize PCP panel workload. Standardized panels were created using (1) age and sex- and (2) clinical condition-based risk indicators. Billing data were used for all patients, regardless of insurance, for PCPs in a group practice (n = 190). Weighting methods were assessed for subgroups based on PCP specialty (family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics) and patient age (adults vs children) and for different levels of aggregation (patient vs PCP). METHODS: Groupwide weights based on wRVUs of all primary care services delivered during the year were applied to individual patients and then aggregated to PCP panels. For age/sex weighting, only patient age and sex were taken into account. For condition-based weighting, 1275 disease categories, based on a combination of episode treatment groups (ETGs) and age and/or sex, were used. RESULTS: As expected, at the patient level, condition-based weights were far more discriminative than age/sex. At the PCP level, this discrimination was less important; panel weights varied 1.9- (age/sex-based) to 2.6-fold (condition-based) across PCPs. Correlations between the 2 weighting methods were high (r = 0.93) for child panels and moderate (r = 0.71) for adult panels (all P \u003c.001). CONCLUSIONS: The heterogeneity of PCP panels should be considered when assessing PCP workload for panel management. Panel variability in workload is well captured by age/sex-based weights for children, but for adults condition-based adjustment may be necessary.","description":"To determine if patient clinical conditions need to be considered when assessing primary care physician workload in the context of standardizing panel sizes.","keywords":["Health Policy","Health Services"],"datePublished":"2012-07-01","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652","inLanguage":"en-US","identifier":[{"@type":"PropertyValue","propertyID":"PMID","value":"22823555"}],"sameAs":["https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22823555/"],"isPartOf":{"@type":"Periodical","name":"Am J Manag Care"},"author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chung S"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Eaton LJ"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Luft HS"}],"sourceOrganization":[{"@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute"},{"@type":"MedicalOrganization","name":"California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute"}],"about":[{"@type":"DefinedTerm","name":"Health Policy","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_researchTopics.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Health+Policy%22%5D%7D%5D&verticalKey=research_publication"},{"@type":"DefinedTerm","name":"Health Services","url":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research-search-results?facets=%5B%7B%22i%22%3A%22c_researchTopics.name%22%2C%22v%22%3A%5B%22Health+Services%22%5D%7D%5D&verticalKey=research_publication"}],"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.sutterhealth.org/research/publications/standardizing-pcp-panels-1055312652#breadcrumblist"}}} ```