Most patients satisfied with relationship with physician

(HealthDay)—Results of the Physicians Foundation 2017 Patient Survey show that most patients are satisfied with their overall relationship with their physician, according to an article published by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

The 2017 Patient Survey included data from 1,747 respondents aged 27 to 75 years. The survey focused on four areas: the physician-patient relationship, the cost of health care, social determinants of health, and lifestyle issues.

According to the article, 95 percent of the patients surveyed reported being somewhat or very satisfied with their overall relationship with their primary care physician. However, only 11 and 14 percent of patients and physicians, respectively, reported that physicians have all the time needed to provide the highest standard of care. Overall, 92 percent of patients felt that health insurance companies had the most leverage regarding treatment options, an increase from 2016. Patients perceived a growing influence of pharmaceutical and medical device companies, Congress, and state government and a decrease in the influence of physicians. Seventy percent of patients and 41 percent of physicians responded positively when asked about physicians' ability to significantly influence the health care system.

"We have a real problem in this disconnect between our patients' quite appropriate expectations of us as advocates both in the political debate and in the exam room and the physicians' perception of what they're able to do," survey report co-author Gary Price, M.D., from Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, said in the article.