For years, patient experience in healthcare has been measured through blunt instruments: satisfaction surveys, star ratings, and episodic feedback tied to individual visits. These tools capture fragments of care, but they often miss how care performs over time.

As healthcare continues to shift toward value, outcomes, and trust, patient experience needs to be measured in a way that reflects the actual work of primary care: access, follow-through, coordination, and continuity.

Measuring What Patients Actually Experience

The PCPCM is a nationally recognized primary care quality measure from the patient’s perspective. Rather than focusing on a single visit, it evaluates how care performs across the four essential functions of primary care—the “4Cs”:

• Contact / Access: How easy it is for patients to get care when they need it
• Comprehensiveness: Whether most of a patient’s needs can be addressed in one place
• Coordination: How well care is navigated across the broader healthcare system
• Continuity: The strength and longevity of the patient–clinician relationship

Developed by researchers at the Larry A. Green Center and recognized by CMS as a clinical quality measure, the PCPCM reflects a growing consensus: meaningful primary care cannot be evaluated transaction by transaction. It must be measured as a relationship.

What the Data Shows About DPC Patient Experience

To better understand how Direct Primary Care performs across these dimensions, Hint Health partnered with DPC practices nationwide to benchmark patient experience using the PCPCM. Over 1,500 DPC patients across multiple states participated, producing one of the most comprehensive looks at DPC patient experience to date.

Direct Primary Care performed strongly across the core functions of primary care, particularly in areas tied to access, continuity, and patient trust. The data also revealed meaningful differences based on the length of the patient–clinician relationship, reinforcing the role of continuity as a driver of experience over time.

Why Continuity Is a Compounding Advantage

One of the most telling patterns in the data was the role of continuity. Patient experience strengthened as relationships matured, particularly in areas tied to trust and long-term support.

This reinforces a critical insight: continuity is not a “nice to have.” It is a compounding asset.

As relationships mature, clinicians gain context. Patients become more engaged. Care plans become more realistic and more effective. Over time, this trust translates into better experience, stronger loyalty, and more proactive care.

A Model Built for Health, Not Just Illness

The data also challenges a common assumption that primary care’s value is most visible during acute illness. In fact, PCPCM scores were stronger among healthier patients.

This reflects a structural advantage of the model. When access is easy and relationships are stable, care doesn’t have to wait for a crisis. It can focus on staying well.

Using PCPCM as a Practical Tool

Beyond benchmarking, the PCPCM offers practices a repeatable way to measure and improve patient experience over time. By tracking performance across the 4Cs, clinics can identify strengths, surface gaps, and align care delivery with what patients consistently value, not just what is easiest to measure.

As more practices adopt standardized, patient-centered measures, the industry moves closer to a shared definition of quality in primary care.

The Bottom Line

Patient experience is no longer a soft metric or a marketing claim. It is measurable, comparable, and central to the future of primary care.

The PCPCM data shows that when care is built around access, continuity, and trust, patients feel it. Direct Primary Care demonstrates what’s possible when primary care is designed as a long-term relationship rather than a series of transactions. As healthcare continues to evolve, models that make patient experience measurable will help define the next standard of care.

Download the full DPC Patient Experience Benchmark Report to see PCPCM benchmarks, patient group comparisons, and guidance for practices looking to measure and improve patient experience over time.