Adoption of Patient-Centered Care Practices by Physicians

TLDR

Little is known about how much primary care physicians practice patient‑centered care, a key IOM quality dimension. The study examines how widely primary care physicians adopt patient‑centered care attributes using a national mail survey of 1,837 physicians. Data were collected via a mail survey of 1,837 nationally representative PCPs who had been in practice for at least three years. Among surveyed PCPs, 83 % support sharing medical records, 87 % endorse team‑based care, yet only 16 % use e‑mail communication and 36 % receive patient feedback; 74 % report record‑availability issues, fewer than half use reminder systems, and adoption of patient‑centered practices is higher in large groups (33 % adopting 6–11 of 11 practices) than in solo practices (14 %), with coordination, team‑based care, and information‑system supports lagging behind.

Abstract

Little is known about the extent to which primary care physicians (PCPs) practice patient-centered care, 1 of the Institute of Medicine's 6 dimensions of quality. This article describes the adoption of patient-centered practice attributes by PCPs.Mail survey; nationally representative physician sample of 1837 physicians in practice at least 3 years postresidency.Eighty-three percent of PCPs surveyed are in favor of sharing of medical records with patients. Most physicians (87%) support team-based care. But, only 16% of PCPs communicate with their patients via e-mail; only 36% get feedback from their patients. Seventy-four percent of PCPs still experience problems with availability of patients' medical records or test results; less than 50% have adopted patient reminder systems. Thirty-three percent of physicians practicing in groups of 50 or more have adopted 6 to 11 of the 11 patient-centered care practices targeted in the survey compared with 14% of solo physicians.Although some patient-centered care practices have been adopted by most PCPs, other practices have not yet been adopted as broadly, especially those targeting coordination, team-based care, and support from appropriate information systems.