You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT ARCHIVES
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 158 No. 7, April 13, 1998 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Archives
  •  Online Features
  Original Investigation
 This Article
 •Full text
 •PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on ISI (22)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Similar articles in this journal
 Topic Collections
 •Quality of Care, Other
 •Alert me on articles by topic

Member Ratings of Health Care Provided by 48 Physician Groups

Ron D. Hays, PhD; Julie A. Brown, BA; Karen L. Spritzer, BA; Wil J. Dixon, PhD; Robert H. Brook, MD, ScD

Arch Intern Med. 1998;158:785-790.

Background  Satisfaction with health plan performance has been assessed frequently, but assessment of physician group performance is rare.

Objective  To present ratings of the care provided by physician groups to enrollees in a variety of capitated health maintenance organization plans.

Methods  A random sample was drawn of adult enrollees receiving managed health care from 48 physician groups in a group practice association. Each individual in the sample was mailed a 12-page questionnaire and 7093 were returned (59% response rate). The mean age of those returning the questionnaire was 51 years; 65% were women.

Results  Reliability estimates for 6 multi-item satisfaction scales were excellent, and noteworthy differences in ratings among groups were observed. In particular, ratings of overall quality ranged from a low of 28 to a high of 68 (mean, 50; SD, 10). Average scores for physician groups were strongly correlated across all scales, but no single group scored consistently highest or lowest on the different scales. Negative ratings of care were significantly related to the following: intention to switch to another physician group, difficulty in getting appointments, lengthy waiting periods in the reception area and examination room, the inability to get consistent care from one physician for routine visits, and not being informed by the office staff when there was a delay in seeing the primary care provider.

Conclusions  Monitoring of health care quality at the physician group level is possible, and could be used for benchmarking, internal quality improvement, and for providing information to the public about how these physician groups will meet its needs.


From RAND, Santa Monica, Calif.



THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Effects of Recreational Physical Activity and Back Exercises on Low Back Pain and Psychological Distress: Findings From the UCLA Low Back Pain Study
Hurwitz et al.
Am. J. Public Health 2005;95:1817-1824.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Application of Structural Equation Modeling to Health Outcomes Research
Hays et al.
Eval Health Prof 2005;28:295-309.
ABSTRACT  

The applicability of the Consumer Assessments of Health Plans Survey (CAHPS(R)) to Preferred Provider Organizations in the United States: a discussion of industry concerns
Morales et al.
Int J Qual Health Care 2004;16:219-227.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 1998 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.