Specialty Physician Designation in Referrals from a Vertically Integrated PCMH.

Introduction: Primary care referrals to specialty physicians once relied upon the medical skill of the specialist, the quality of past communication, and previous consultative experiences. As health systems vertically integrate, patterns of specialty physician referral designation are not known.

Methods: This cross-sectional study from a patient-centered medical home (PCMH) evaluated the proportion of referrals with named specialists.