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95% of primary care patients satisfied with their physicians

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Out of 1,747 participants in a study conducted in June 2017, 95% said they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with their primary doctor. The study was conducted by the Physicians Foundation, who contracted a private consulting firm to provide online questions to healthcare consumers “between the ages of 27 and 75 and have seen the same doctor at least twice in the past 12 months.”

In the survey, participants were asked a wide range of questions about their primary care physician, or the physician that they considered to be their primary care doctor. Questions were focused on four major areas: “the physician-patient relationship, the cost of healthcare, social determinants and lifestyle issues.”

The first question asked about the survey participants’ satisfaction with their primary doctor. That was followed by the second question, which asked if they had ever considered changing their primary doctor. 80% responded “not that much” or “not at all.”

Those who said they were considering a change in their primary care doctor gave a variety of reasons including “the doctor does not do enough, because they do not listen to them, or does not provide enough personal service.” In a later question, 77% of the participants said they want their doctors to listen to them more.

Additional reasons given for considering a change in doctors included “location and/or distance … slow service or the wait time is too long … [and] it is hard to get appointments.” Others wanted a second opinion and felt they have found a better doctor.

In this same study, 85% of the participants indicated that their physician’s use of electronic health records (EHRs) helped patient care either “a great deal” or “somewhat.” Likewise, 85% of the respondents said that “Technological advances in healthcare will greatly improve the quality of care patients receive.”