More Is More: Expanding Access to Primary Care While Maintaining Quality

Commonwealth Fund July 15, 2021
Benjamin Zhu, Sherry A. Glied

Toplines

The U.S. primary care system has absorbed increases in service use generated by the Affordable Care Act without jeopardizing care quality or intensity

Across most dimensions of primary care, slightly more services were delivered to the average patient after the Affordable Care Act than before — including a slight increase in unnecessary care

Abstract

• Issue: A persistent concern about health insurance coverage expansions is that the supply of care providers is already so constrained that any increase in service use would reduce the quality of care for all Americans. Based on the experience of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expansions, is this concern valid?
• Goals: Assess changes in the content of primary care visits, comparing the pre- and...

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