In a home-based primary care practice (HBPC), many factors determine optimal productivity and panel size standards (i.e., the number of individual patients under the care of a specific provider). These include payment structure, practice model, outcome goals, geography/travel times, and more. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the following insights from data collected from HCCI’s national network may be useful when determining HBPC productivity and panel size standards.
- Productivity: The average number of HBPC visits per day per provider is 8 to 10. Practices that cover a large geography, or independent providers with limited support, average closer to 5 to 7 visits per provider. Practices with large facility-based patient populations may average 15 or more.
- Panel Size: Determining the right case load and panel size affects provider satisfaction and clinical outcomes. HBPC panel sizes average around 200 patients per provider. Practices with more interdisciplinary team support may assign more patients per provider while practices under value-based payment structures may decrease caseloads to focus on more comprehensive care management.
Resources: Staffing ratio examples from six well-established HBPC programs can be referenced in the HCCIntelligence webinar: Improving Workflows: Front Office, Back Office and What It Means For Staffing. Additional information can be found in An Overview of Home-Based Primary Care: Learning from the Field from The Commonwealth Fund.
