Development of a care guidance index based on what matters to patients.

Introduction: Targeting resources for a designated higher-risk subgroup is a strategy for chronic care management. However, risk-designation has several limitations: it is inaccurate, seldom helpful for care guidance, and potentially misallocates care away from many patients.

Methods: To address limitations of risk designation, we tested a "what matters index" (WMI) in 19,593 adult patients with chronic conditions.