For over a decade, managed care has profoundly altered how healthcare
is delivered in the United States. There have been concerns that the
patient-physician relationship may be undermined by various aspects of
managed care, such as restrictions on physician choice, productivity
requirements that limit the time physicians may spend with patients,
and the use of compensation formulas that reward physicians for
healthcare dollars not spent. We have previously published data on the
effects of managed care on the physician-patient relationship from the
physician's perspective. In 1999, we collected data on
the impact of managed care arrangements on the physician-patient
relationship from the patient's perspective. This article
discusses our collective findings.