Clinical accountability in fragmented primary care for older adults: a practical framework for minimal multidimensional assessment and targeted testing in community and home-based settings.

Abstract

Fragmented care in older adults often results in duplicated testing, delayed decision-making and unclear clinical responsibility. These challenges are particularly pronounced in community and home-based primary care settings, where multiple providers contribute to care without formal coordination structures. Although comprehensive multidimensional geriatric evaluation is recommended, its complexity limits routine implementation. This article proposes a pragmatic framework integrating assessment of daily functioning, cognitive screening, mood assessment and mobility evaluation with targeted laboratory testing guided by clinical findings. A central principle of this model is clinical accountability, defined as the responsibility of the clinician who performs assessment and interprets findings to integrate diagnostic results into patient management and follow-up. In this framework, accountability refers specifically to responsibility for documenting findings, initiating appropriate follow-up evaluation and ensuring communication of clinically significant results. By linking brief multidimensional assessment, problem-oriented testing and explicit responsibility for follow-up, this practice-informed communication offers a pragmatic, adaptable approach for family physicians and community-based clinicians working in fragmented care environments. It is presented as a practice-informed proposal rather than a validated framework, consensus statement or guideline.