Massachusetts Patients Mainly Satisfied with Healthcare Quality, Access
WALTHAM — Seven years into healthcare reform, despite longer wait times for appointments with physicians, Massachusetts residents remain as satisfied with the health care they receive as they were before reform began and are finding access to the care they need without difficulty, according to a public opinion poll released by the Mass. Medical Society (MMS), the statewide association of physicians.
The poll, seeking the opinions and perceptions of Massachusetts adults on a range of healthcare issues, also revealed that residents think the cost of care is the most important healthcare issue facing the Commonwealth, that residents have limited knowledge and unfavorable opinions of the new types of health plans and care models, and that more adults are using the emergency room for care.
“This year’s survey has good news for patients and physicians as well as some warning signs,” said Dr. Ronald Dunlap, president of the MMS, who noted that the latest results compare favorably with data from previous public-opinion polls. “Reform has not caused major disruption in the delivery of care as perceived by the patients. Residents are telling us that they are satisfied with the quality of their care and that getting access to care is not difficult, despite longer-than-desired wait times for both new and existing patients to see physicians. The survey results also speak well of the state’s healthcare work force, as the number-one reason for this satisfaction is quality of care.”
Among the warning signs cited by Dunlap were the rise in emergency-department usage and patients’ limited knowledge of new health-insurance plans and models of care. “As emergency-department use has a considerable impact on costs, and as new insurance plans and models of care become more prevalent,” he said, “these areas call for more attention and more patient education.”
Among the survey’s major findings, 78{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of respondents say that the cost of care is the most important healthcare issue facing Massachusetts today. Meanwhile, 65{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of residents believe their healthcare costs are more expensive than last year, including 28{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} who think they are “much more expensive” and 37{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} who believe costs have increased “somewhat.”
However, 84{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of residents expressed satisfaction with the care they received over the last year, including 56{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} who indicated they are “very satisfied” and 28{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} who are “somewhat satisfied.” While the 84{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} is a slight dip from 2012, when 87{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} said they were satisfied, satisfaction with care has remained highly stable since the MMS first asked this question in 2004, when 88{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of adults indicated they were satisfied. The biggest reasons for this high level of satisfaction are quality of care, cited by 51{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}, and good access, named by 27{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}.
Speaking of access, 73{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} of residents reported that gaining access to the care they need is not difficult (down 5{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} from 2012). Despite the declines from last year, ease of access is markedly higher than in 2008, when just 57{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} said access was not difficult.
However, the percentage of residents reporting a wait of a month or more to see their primary-care physician is at its highest level in the history of the study, increasing from 21{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} in 2012 to 28{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} in 2013. For serious medical problems, 86{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5} said the amount of time they needed to wait was not a problem, with the majority of residents (62{06cf2b9696b159f874511d23dbc893eb1ac83014175ed30550cfff22781411e5}) reporting that they waited less than two weeks to get an appointment for a serious problem.
The complete 2013 Mass. Medical Society Public Opinion Survey is available at www.massmed.org/poll2013.