Physician practices that are able to deliver high-quality care at the most affordable cost have some common attributes, according to a new study.

Researchers at Stanford University identified six factors that were statistically significant in defining high-value practices, according to the study published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

The researchers, from Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center used never-before-available commercial health insurance claims from 2009 to 2011 from more than 40 million patients and 53,000 primary care practices across the country to identify those that deliver high-quality care with a lower overall cost. They then conducted extensive site visits to determine what those practices were doing differently.