A Framework to Measure and Improve Well-Being in Primary Care

• Published in: Pediatrics (Evanston) 2020-01, Vol.145 (1), p.1
• Main Authors: Brown, Courtney M, Samaan, Zeina M, Mansour, Mona E, Glance, Allison, Morehous, John F, Taylor, Stuart, Hawke, Jesse, Kahn, Robert S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child Development; Child, Preschool; Electronic medical records; Health Status; Humans; Missing data; Pediatrics; Preventive Health Services - statistics & numerical data; Primary care; Primary Health Care - methods; Schools; Well being
• ISSN: 0031-4005; 1098-4275
• DOI: 10.1542/peds.2019-1531

Pediatricians aspire to optimize overall health and development, but there are no comprehensive measures of well-being to guide pediatric primary care redesign. The objective of this article is to describe the Cincinnati Kids Thrive at 5 outcome measure, along with a set of more proximal outcome and process measures, designed to drive system improvement over several years. In this article, we describe a composite measure of "thriving" at age 66 months, using primary care data from the electronic health record. Thriving is defined as immunizations up-to-date, healthy BMI, free of dental pain, normal or corrected vision, normal or corrected hearing, and on track for communication, literacy, and social-emotional milestones. We discuss key considerations and tradeoffs in developing the measure. We then summarize insights from applying this measure to 9544 patients over 3 years. Baseline rates of thriving were 13% when including all patients and 31% when including only patients with complete data available. Interpretation of results was complicated by missing data in 50% of patients and nonindependent success rates among bundle components. There was considerable enthusiasm among other practices and sectors to learn with us and to measure system performance using time-linked trajectories. We learned to present our data in ways that balanced aspirational long-term or multidisciplinary goal-setting with more easily attainable short-term aims. On the basis of our experience with the Thrive at 5 measure, we discuss future directions and place a broader call to action for pediatricians, researchers, policy makers, and communities.