RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Characteristics of primary care practices associated with high quality of care JF Canadian Medical Association Journal JO CMAJ FD Canadian Medical Association SP E590 OP E596 DO 10.1503/cmaj.121802 VO 185 IS 12 A1 Marie-Dominique Beaulieu A1 Jeannie Haggerty A1 Pierre Tousignant A1 Janet Barnsley A1 William Hogg A1 Robert Geneau A1 Éveline Hudon A1 Réjean Duplain A1 Jean-Louis Denis A1 Lucie Bonin A1 Claudio Del Grande A1 Natalyia Dragieva YR 2013 UL http://www.cmaj.ca/content/185/12/E590.abstract AB Background: No primary practice care model has been shown to be superior in achieving high-quality primary care. We aimed to identify the organizational characteristics of primary care practices that provide high-quality primary care.Methods: We performed a cross-sectional observational study involving a stratified random sample of 37 primary care practices from 3 regions of Quebec. We recruited 1457 patients who had 1 of 2 chronic care conditions or 1 of 6 episodic care conditions. The main outcome was the overall technical quality score. We measured organizational characteristics by use of a validated questionnaire and the Team Climate Inventory. Statistical analyses were based on multilevel regression modelling.Results: The following characteristics were strongly associated with overall technical quality of care score: physician remuneration method (27.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 19.0–35.0), extent of sharing of administrative resources (7.6; 95% CI 0.8–14.4), presence of allied health professionals (15.3; 95% CI 5.4–25.2) and/or specialist physicians (19.6; 95% CI 8.3–30.9), the presence of mechanisms for maintaining or evaluating competence (7.7; 95% CI 3.0–12.4) and average organizational access to the practice (4.9; 95% CI 2.6–7.2). The number of physicians (1.2; 95% CI 0.6–1.8) and the average Team Climate Inventory score (1.3; 95% CI 0.1–2.5) were modestly associated with high-quality care.Interpretation: We identified a common set of organizational characteristics associated with high-quality primary care. Many of these characteristics are amenable to change through practice-level organizational changes.