Care continuity improves screening.

Complete continuity of care in infancy--seeing the same physician or provider for every visit--dramatically improved the likelihood that children received critical health screenings during their first 2 years, researchers reported in Pediatrics. The investigators looked at Medicaid-enrolled infants and found that for total ambulatory visits, children who had complete continuity of care were more than twice as likely to receive lead screening, compared with children who saw a different practitioner for every visit. In addition, children with complete continuity were 1.5-2 times more likely to have been screened for tuberculosis. Continuity also showed a lesser but still significant effect on anemia screening. It was critical for the infants to see the same practitioner at every visit, not just at well-child care visits, the researchers said. "Continuity of care is an important part of ensuring adequate preventive service delivery to a vulnerable population," they concluded.