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Comparative Study
. 1999 May;14(5):287-96.
doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.1999.00336.x.

The influence of gatekeeping and utilization review on patient satisfaction

E A Kerr  1 , R D Hays, A Mitchinson, M Lee, A L Siu
Affiliations
Comparative Study

The influence of gatekeeping and utilization review on patient satisfaction

E A Kerr et al. J Gen Intern Med. 1999 May.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the influence of utilization review and denial of specialty referrals on patient satisfaction with overall medical care, willingness to recommend one's physician group to a friend, and desire to disenroll from the health plan.

Design: Two cross-sectional questionnaires: one of physician groups and one of patient satisfaction.

Setting: Eighty-eight capitated physician groups in California.

Participants: Participants were 11,710 patients enrolled in a large California network-model HMO in 1993 who received care in one of the 88 physician groups.

Measurements and main results: Our main measures were how groups conducted utilization review for specialty referrals and tests, patient-reported denial of specialty referrals, and patient satisfaction with overall medical care. Patients in groups that required preauthorization for access to many types of specialists were significantly (p </=.001) less satisfied than patients in groups that had few preauthorization requirements, even after adjusting for patient and other group characteristics. Patients who had wanted to see a specialist in the previous year but did not see one were significantly less satisfied than those who had wanted to see a specialist and actually saw one (p <.001). In addition, patients who did not see a specialist when desired were more likely to want to disenroll from the health plan than patients who saw the specialist (40% vs 18%, p </=.001) and more likely not to recommend their group to a friend (38% vs 13%, p </=.001).

Conclusions: Policies that limited direct access to specialists, and especially denial of patient-desired referrals, were associated with significantly lower patient satisfaction, increased desire to disenroll, and lower likelihood of recommending the group to a friend. Health plans and physician groups need to take these factors into account when designing strategies to reduce specialty care use.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Data collection for the two surveys used in the current analysis.
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References

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