Patient Experience Scores for Adults Improve Since Before the Pandemic, Except in One Key Area: Access
MHQP’s statewide Patient Experience Survey confirms that patients are struggling to access primary care.
Scores for pediatric care declined in other critical areas as well.
(February 2024)
The results of MHQP’s annual statewide Patient Experience Survey, which were released today, offer an important indication of how patients’ experiences have shifted during and after the pandemic.
First conducted in 2005, MHQP’s survey is the only statewide survey of its kind. Unlike satisfaction surveys that ask about general perceptions, it asks people what actually happened when they or their children needed primary care. Results were collected from 444 adult and pediatric primary care practices across the state, representing over 3,300 primary care providers, and can be viewed on MHQP’s consumer-facing website, www.healthcarecompassMA.org.
To gain a deeper understanding of the trends during and after the pandemic, MHQP compared scores across all categories in 2021, 2022 and 2023 to the pre-pandemic baseline year of 2019. In adult care, scores were statistically higher than in 2019 in every category each year – except two: Ease of Access to Care (where scores were statistically lower than 2019 in all three years) and Assessment of Patient Behavioral Health Issues (where scores were statistically lower than 2019 in 2021 and 2022 and then returned to the equivalent of the 2019 score in 2023).
| Composite/Category | 2019 Adult Score | 2021 Adult Score | 2022 Adult Score | 2023 Adult Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient-Provider Communications | 94.7 | 96.4 | 96.2 | 96.2 |
| Coordinating Patient Care | 86.9 | 89.0 | 89.1 | 89.6 |
| How Well Providers Know Their Patients | 89.8 | 91.6 | 91.5 | 91.3 |
| Assessment of Patient Behavioral Health Issues | 73.8 | 70.7 | 71.1 | 74.1 |
| Ease of Access to Care | 86.6 | 83.2 | 82.8 | 82.3 |
| Office Staff Professional Excellence | 89.5 | 94.3 | 94.4 | 94.4 |
| Self-Management Support | 63.6 | 63.1 | 63.7 | 66.3 |
| Willingness to Recommend | 91.2 | 92.3 | 92.2 | 92.2 |
Scores in Green are statistically higher than the 2019 score.
Scores in Red are statistically lower than the 2019 score.
These data show that, despite the challenges presented by the pandemic, primary care practices across the state were able to elevate patients’ experiences in almost all areas. The one area where declines were recorded throughout the period is Ease of Access to Care.
Concerns about declining access to primary care services became significantly heightened during the pandemic, as many practices struggled with scheduling challenges amid growing staffing shortages. Many sources document the current fragile state of primary care access during this time. For example, data reported in the Massachusetts Primary Care Dashboard, which MHQP produces with the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA), show that more than a third of primary care physicians in Massachusetts are age 60 and older (and that percentage is increasing), and more than a third of residents state they had trouble accessing healthcare in the last 12 months (and that percentage is also increasing).
The survey data also illustrate a trend in pediatrics that is worse than adult practices during and after the pandemic. Similar to adult care, parents reported significantly lower scores for Ease of Access to Care in pediatric care in 2021, 2022 and 2023 versus 2019. This was also true in several categories unique to pediatric care ― Pediatric Preventive Care and Assessment of Child Development. Scores for Coordinating Patient Care in 2022 and 2023 were also statistically lower than in 2019.
| Composite/Category | 2019 Child Score | 2021 Child Score | 2022 Child Score | 2023 Child Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient-Provider Communications | 97.4 | 98.6 | 98.4 | 98.2 |
| Coordinating Patient Care | 89.2 | 88.8 | 88.0 | 87.8 |
| How Well Providers Know Their Patients | 93.6 | 94.4 | 93.9 | 93.9 |
| Pediatric Preventive Care | 75.8 | 67.9 | 66.2 | 66.9 |
| Assessment of Child Development | 80.0 | 77.2 | 75.0 | 77.5 |
| Ease of Access to Care | 93.4 | 92.3 | 89.7 | 89.7 |
| Office Staff Professional Excellence | 92.6 | 96.6 | 95.9 | 95.7 |
| Self-Management Support | 52.7 | 51.9 | 50.5 | 53.9 |
| Willingness to Recommend | 95.9 | 96.7 | 96.2 | 96.2 |
Scores in Green are statistically higher than the 2019 score.
Scores in Red are statistically lower than the 2019 score.
“Primary care practices deserve our praise and gratitude. They have risen above enormous obstacles in the past few years to deliver improved patient experiences for patients. This is remarkable,” says MHQP CEO and President Barbra Rabson. “However, access to primary care is getting significantly worse and is contributing to emergency room back-ups and other system imbalances. At the same time, the percentage of total medical expense supporting primary care in Massachusetts is declining. This crisis needs immediate attention.”
Click HERE to see a Boston Globe story about primary care access which features these results.