Comparative effectiveness of outpatient cardiovascular disease and diabetes care delivery between advanced practice providers and physician providers in primary care: Implications for care under the Affordable Care Act.

Virani SS, Akeroyd JM, Ramsey DJ, Chan WJ, Frazier L, Nasir K, S Rajan S, Ballantyne CM, Petersen LA. Comparative effectiveness of outpatient cardiovascular disease and diabetes care delivery between advanced practice providers and physician providers in primary care: Implications for care under the Affordable Care Act. American heart journal. 2016 Nov 1; 181:74-82.

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Abstract:

BACKGROUND: The objective was to compare quality of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) care between advanced practice providers (APPs) and physicians in a primary care setting. METHODS: We identified diabetes (n = 1,022,588) and CVD (n = 1,187,035) patients receiving primary care between October 2013 and September 2014 in 130 Veterans Affairs facilities. We compared glycemic control (hemoglobin A1c < 7%) in diabetic patients, blood pressure (BP) < 140/90 mmHg in diabetic or CVD patients, cholesterol control (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol < 100 mg/dL, receiving a statin) in diabetic or CVD patients, and those receiving a -blocker (with history of myocardial infarction in the last 2 years) among patients receiving care from physicians and APPs. We also compared the proportion meeting composite measure (glycemic, BP, and cholesterol control in diabetic patients; BP, cholesterol control, and receipt of -blocker among eligible CVD patients). RESULTS: Diabetic patients receiving care from APPs were statistically more likely to have glycemic (50% vs 51.4%, odds ratio [OR] 1.06 [1.05-1.08]) and BP control (77.5% vs 78.4%, OR 1.04 [1.03-1.06]), whereas patients receiving care from physicians were more likely to have cholesterol control (receipt of statin 68% vs 66.5%, OR 0.94 [0.93-0.95]) in adjusted models, although these differences are not clinically significant. Similar results were seen in CVD patients. Few patients met the composite measure (27.1% and 27.6% of diabetic and 54.0% and 54.8% of CVD patients receiving care from physicians and APPs, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Diabetes and CVD care quality was comparable between physicians and APPs with clinically insignificant differences. Regardless of provider type, there is a need to improve performance on eligible measures in diabetes or CVD patients.