What is a care gap and how is it addressed?

• A. A fixed, unchanging element of care.
• B. A missing or delayed element of recommended care; addressed with proactive outreach, reminders, and patient education.
• C. An auditing process for billing.
• D. A result of patient noncompliance unrelated to care.

Answer: (B)

A care gap is a missing or delayed element of recommended care. It occurs when a patient is due for a test, vaccination, preventive service, or follow-up but has not received it yet. It’s addressed with proactive outreach, reminders, and patient education to ensure the needed care is delivered in a timely way. Health teams use quality measures and patient lists to identify gaps, then coordinate outreach, scheduling, and education to close them. Other statements describe a fixed element, a billing audit, or a nonclinical outcome, which don’t capture the clinical idea of a care gap.