Policies promoting widespread adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) are premised on the hope that they can improve the coordination of care. Yet little is known about whether and how physician practices use current EMRs to facilitate coordination.

Despite expectations that medical homes provide “24 × 7 coverage†there is little to guide primary care practices in developing sustainable models for accessible and coordinated after–hours care.

In May 2010, a team of researchers from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), as part of the Community Tracking Study (CTS), visited the northern New Jersey metropolitan area to study how health care is organized, financed and delivered in that community.

One goal of the Affordable Care Act is to improve patients’ access to primary care and the coordination of that care.