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3. Health Care Provider Practice
On behalf of a
health care provider, Portland Research
Group conducted a study of health plan
members’ satisfaction with the primary care
physicians who participate with the client’s
managed care plans.
Satisfaction was measured in a number of
specific areas, including:
- Length
of wait time to get an appointment
- Length
of wait time at the doctor’s office
- Amount
of time spent with the doctor
-
Physicians’ listening skills
-
Physicians’ explanations of conditions and
treatments
-
Patients’ involvement in treatment plans
-
Thoroughness of care delivered
- Ability
to get referrals to specialists
The study
was conducted using a questionnaire
developed by the client. The health care
provider uses this tracking study, in its
third year, to help participating physicians
improve working relationships with patients
who are covered by the client’s health
plans. In addition to performance on
clinical measures, physician performance on
these patient satisfaction measures is an
integral part of the client’s overall
quality improvement program for
participating physicians.
Portland
Research Group conducted 1,950
telephone
interviews with selected patients of
physicians at 34 New Hampshire medical
practices. The following quotas were
established to ensure adequate
representation of individual practices: 100
completed surveys for each of 5 large,
clinic-based practices and 50 surveys per
practice for the remaining 29 practices.
Eligible patients had visited their
physicians during a specified time.
Portland
Research Group managed all interviewing and
data processing. Upon project completion,
Portland Research Group provided the client
with a data file in
SPSS format. Data
analysis was conducted by the client using
established models. |
