Annals of Family Medicine: New Papers Illustrate What Makes Family Medicine Powerful

A Dutch study links long-standing patient-physician relationships to fewer urgent hospital admissions and lower costs, while a special report examines methods for identifying patients living with dementia and caregiver pairs in primary care.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., July 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Long-standing relationships between patients and their general practice are associated with fewer urgent hospital admissions and lower hospital costs, one of two new papers in Annals of Family Medicine finds. A special report describes a Canadian pilot study that examined ways to link the records of patients living with dementia to those of their caregivers in primary care. Together, these two new papers highlight a major strength of family medicine, caring for patients over time and within the relationships that surround them.

Continuity of care, the ongoing, long-term relationship between a patient and their physician, is known to be tied to better health outcomes. Although many studies have examined the relationship between continuity of care and health care use or costs, they have varied widely in design, continuity measures, populations, and outcomes. In this retrospective cohort study, researchers in the Netherlands used data from 100,450 patients across 48 general practices to examine two types of continuity and their associations with urgent hospital admissions and hospital costs. Continuity was measured two ways: by duration of the general practitioner-patient relationship (time registered with the practice) and by how concentrated a patient's visits were with one physician (density). Patients registered with their practice for longer than 5 years had 9% to 21% lower odds of urgent hospital admission and 17% to 28% lower hospital costs compared with those registered for 0 to 5 years. Consistently seeing the same general practitioner was associated with 6% to 7% lower hospital costs, but not with fewer urgent admissions.

"Providing continuity requires deliberate and sustained effort from all stakeholders—patients, health care professionals, insurers, and policy makers. It is our shared responsibility to continue ensuring high continuity of care in general practice," the study's authors write.

In a special report drawing on a pilot study funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada, researchers examined whether the records for people living with dementia and their caregivers could be linked using the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN), a national network that collects de-identified electronic medical record (EMR) data from primary care practices in Canada. Researchers tested two methods: manual identification by clinic staff and an algorithm matching shared chart details such as a phone number. While both methods worked, they faced barriers, including EMR incompatibility, varying provincial privacy rules, and consent requirements. A core barrier was that EMRs lack dedicated fields for caregiver information, making it difficult for health care professionals and researchers to access and connect data.

"The linkage of EMR data holds substantial promise for improving patient and caregiver outcomes, particularly in chronic conditions such as dementia," the report's authors write. "The path forward involves incremental changes that leverage existing EMR systems to better support patients and caregivers," the report concludes.

Article Cited:

Association of General Practice Continuity With Hospital Admissions and Costs: A Retrospective Study (https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.250537)

Marije T. te Winkel, MD; Annemarie A. Uijen, MD, PhD; Birgit I. Lissenberg-Witte, PhD; Rob J. van Marum, MD, PhD; Henk J. Schers, MD, PhD; Pauline Slottje, PhD; Jettie Bont, MD, PhD; Otto R. Maarsingh, MD, PhD

Advancing Family Medicine Through Dyadic Electronic Medical Record Linkage in Dementia Care (https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.250494)

Annie Robitaille, PhD; Kristina M. Kokorelias, PhD; Kris Aubrey-Bassler, MD; David Barber, MD; Stephanie Garies, PhD; Linda Garcia, PhD; Mathew Grandy, MD; Keri Harvey, MASHR; Dewdunee Himasara Marasinghe, MSc; Leanne Kosowan, MSc; Lynn McCleary, PhD; Rachael Morkem, MSc; Kelly A. Pilato, PhD; Fazle Sharior, MSS; Alex Singer, MB; Matt Taylor; Rebecca Theal, MSc; Mary Helmer-Smith, MSc; Sabrina Wong, PhD; Tyler Williamson, PhD; and Neil Drummond, PhD

Annals of Family Medicine is an open access, peer-reviewed, indexed research journal that provides a cross-disciplinary forum for new, evidence-based information affecting the primary care disciplines. Launched in May 2003, Annals of Family Medicine is sponsored by six family medical organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Board of Family Medicine, the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, the Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, and the North American Primary Care Research Group. Annals of Family Medicine is published online six times each year, charges no fee for publication, and contains original research from the clinical, biomedical, social, and health services areas, as well as contributions on methodology and theory, selected reviews, essays, and editorials. Complete editorial content and interactive discussion groups for each published article can be accessed for free on the journal's website, www.AnnFamMed.org.

SOURCE Annals of Family Medicine