The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System for the previous three years. A structured questionnaire was mailed to 1,546 attending physicians from October to December, 2005. A total of 448 replied, with a response rate of 29.0%. Statistical analysis, including univariate analysis, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0. More than half (56.1%) of the primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System were satisfied with the plan. The respondents' highest satisfaction points were related to improvement of the doctor-patient relationship (70.1 points), quality of care (68.6 points), and professional ability (67.9 points). The respondents felt more dissatisfied with issues of increase in personal income (48.6 points), improvement of life quality (50.4 points), and payment from the National Health Insurance (53.6 points). After adjustment for gender, professional specialty, and duration of participation in the plan, older physicians had 1.04 times (95% C.I.=1.01-1.07) higher satisfaction. Areas of physician practice in the northern, middle and southern parts of Taiwan also had 9.98 (95% C.I.=1.19-83.74), 9.87 (95% C.I.=1.16-84.1), 9.45 (95% C.I.=1.12-80.04) times higher satisfaction than in the eastern part, respectively. Family physicians had higher satisfaction rates than other specialties (p<0.05) related to quality of patient care, promotion of professional performance, increase of patient respect, and increase in personal income. Our study showed high satisfaction rates among primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System, especially in the dimension of improving quality of health care. It is also important to provide primary care physicians adequate financial compensation and better life quality to assure quality medical care delivery.
The purpose of this study was to determine the opinions of primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System for the previous three years. A structured questionnaire was mailed to 1,546 attending physicians from October to December, 2005. A total of 448 replied, with a response rate of 29.0%. Statistical analysis, including univariate analysis, Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and logistic regression analysis was performed using SPSS 13.0. More than half (56.1%) of the primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System were satisfied with the plan. The respondents' highest satisfaction points were related to improvement of the doctor-patient relationship (70.1 points), quality of care (68.6 points), and professional ability (67.9 points). The respondents felt more dissatisfied with issues of increase in personal income (48.6 points), improvement of life quality (50.4 points), and payment from the National Health Insurance (53.6 points). After adjustment for gender, professional specialty, and duration of participation in the plan, older physicians had 1.04 times (95% C.I.=1.01-1.07) higher satisfaction. Areas of physician practice in the northern, middle and southern parts of Taiwan also had 9.98 (95% C.I.=1.19-83.74), 9.87 (95% C.I.=1.16-84.1), 9.45 (95% C.I.=1.12-80.04) times higher satisfaction than in the eastern part, respectively. Family physicians had higher satisfaction rates than other specialties (p<0.05) related to quality of patient care, promotion of professional performance, increase of patient respect, and increase in personal income. Our study showed high satisfaction rates among primary care physicians participating in the Family Doctors Integrated Delivery System, especially in the dimension of improving quality of health care. It is also important to provide primary care physicians adequate financial compensation and better life quality to assure quality medical care delivery.