The American Academy of Family Physicians defines continuity of care as “the process by which the patient and his/her physician-led care team are cooperatively involved in ongoing health care management toward the shared goal of high-quality, cost-effective medical care.” Haggerty et al. identified three types of continuity in every discipline: informational, management, and relational. Informa...

Background A comprehensive primary healthcare (PHC) approach requires clear referral and continuity of care pathways. South Africa is a lower-middle income country (LMIC) that lacks data on the role of intermediate care (IC) services in the health system. This study described the model of service provision at one facility in Cape Town, including reason for admission, the mix of services and ski...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Although continuity of care has been found to be associated with improved health outcomes in children, little is known about what factors predict having consistent contact with a pediatric provider. This study explored what patient, family, provider, and system factors are associated with high continuity of both total and well-child care. METHODS This cross-sectional...

Continuity of care has been regarded as being fundamental to primary care and has been linked to improve quality of care. In this editorial, I will explore the impact of continuity of care on the quality of care and the mechanism of how quality helps to sustain continuity; recommendations for policy makers in the health care system to improve quality by promoting continuity will be outlined at ...

BACKGROUND Continuity of care is one of the cornerstones of primary care. Initially, the concept of continuity largely corresponded to one care provider and continuity between doctor and patient, but today, healthcare processes and organisations have grown and become more complex. A survey of patients with complex care needs found that in all of 11 countries studied care was often poorly coordi...