Continuity of care is the process by which the patient and their physician-led care team are cooperatively involved in ongoing health care management toward the shared goal of safe, high quality, cost-effective medical care. Given its importance, continuity of care measurement should be prioritized.
Continuity of care is a hallmark of family medicine. It supports the development of trusting patient-physician relationships, enables family physicians to serve as effective patient advocates, and allows for early recognition of potential problems. Continuity of care is rooted in a long-term patient-physician partnership in which the physician knows the patient’s history from experience and can efficiently integrate new information and decisions from a whole-person perspective.
Continuity of care is facilitated by a physician-led, team-based approach to care. The American Academy of Family Physicians supports the role of family physicians in providing continuity of care to their patients in all settings, both directly and by coordination of care with other health care professionals.
(1983) (October 2025 COD)