Do Teams Improve the Quality of Ambulatory Care?

Using data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, we examined team composition in office-based practices and compared their relative quality of care. We found that, compared with physician-only teams, patients seen by physician and nurse practitioner/nurse midwife teams and those seen by physician and nurse teams were more likely to receive statins for hyperlipidemia and blood pressure screening, respectively. We also found that patients seen by physician and physician assistant teams were less likely to receive recommended care for all 4 quality indicators, and patients seen by any interprofessional team were less likely to receive recommended depression treatment than physician-only teams.