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Physicians’ career satisfaction, quality of care and patients’ trust: the role of community uninsurance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2007

JOSÉ A. PAGÁN ,
LAKSHMI BALASUBRAMANIAN  and
MARK V. PAULY
JOSÉ A. PAGÁN*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Finance, University of Texas-Pan American, USA
LAKSHMI BALASUBRAMANIAN
Affiliation:
Department of Economics and Finance, University of Texas-Pan American, USA
MARK V. PAULY
Affiliation:
Health Care Systems Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
*
*Corresponding author: José A. Pagán, Department of Economics and Finance, College of Business Administration, The University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 W. University Dr. Edinburg, TX 78539, USA. Tel: +1 956-318-5306; Email: jpagan@utpa.edu
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Abstract:

There is evidence that health care providers located in communities with relatively large uninsured populations face financial difficulties because of low service demand and high levels of uncompensated care. Data on 4,920 physicians from the 2000–2001 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey and from 25,637 adults from the 2003 Community Tracking Study Household Survey were used to analyze whether the relative size of the local uninsured population is associated with the level of career satisfaction and the quality of care provided by physicians and to assess whether patient trust is associated with the level of community uninsurance. The results indicate that the proportion of uninsured adults in a given community is negatively related to physicians’ career satisfaction and the perceived quality of health care provided. Community uninsurance is also negatively related to patient trust in their doctor and positively related to whether insured patients believed that their doctor was influenced by rules from health insurance companies. Physicians in communities with relatively large uninsured populations may have lower career satisfaction and lower perceptions of the quality of care provided due to financial difficulties. Patients in these communities are also less likely to trust their physician.

Type
Articles
Information
Health Economics, Policy and Law , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , October 2007 , pp. 347 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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