Co-located specialty care within primary care practice settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Co-location of specialists in primary care has been suggested as an approach to reduce care fragmentation, inefficiency, and cost. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the impact of co-located specialty care models in primary care settings. Methods Ovid Medline In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus was conducted through February 2015. A manual search of the included studies’ bibliographies was conducted. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies reporting physically co-located specialties in primary care on the following outcomes were included: patient satisfaction; provider satisfaction; health care access and utilization; clinical outcomes, and costs. Results Of 1620 articles, 22 studies met inclusion criteria, including 9 RCTs and 13 observational studies. Co-located care was observed to be associated with increased patient satisfaction (OR 2.04; 95% CI 1.04–3.98), primary care provider satisfaction (OR 6.49, 95% CI 4.28–9.85), and outpatient visits (OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.13–3.33). Co-located care was associated with reduced appointment wait time (OR 0.20, 95%CI 0.10 – 0.41). Reduced costs and improvement in quality of life and selected diabetes related outcomes were also observed. Evidence quality was limited by few studies, high risk of bias, and heterogeneity. Conclusions Co-located specialty care in primary care settings may support the aims of high value care delivery. However, additional studies are needed to further evaluate the value of co-location of specific specialties and stronger data on impact to health outcomes and cost.