Does Having Open Access to Care Improve Patient Experience? A Case-Control Study.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Experience Research
• Primary Care and Specialist Care

Background:

• Open access (OA) models aim to improve patient access and experience.
• Previous research on OA's impact on patient experience is varied.
• Understanding OA's effectiveness across different practice types is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if primary and specialist care practices with open access (OA) achieve better patient experience scores compared to non-OA practices.
• To identify optimal OA checklist scores associated with improved patient experience.
• To analyze the impact of OA on specific patient experience domains.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 711 physicians with OA (OA checklist score ≥15) was propensity-matched to control practices without OA.
• Patient experience was assessed using 5 composite measures: timely care, communication, staff quality, care coordination, and overall physician rating.
• Minimally important differences were calculated to determine significant improvements.

Main Results:

• OA positively impacted most patient experience domains for specialist practices, excluding physician rating.
• OA had minimal effects on patient experience in primary care practices.
• Practices scoring 19 or higher on the OA checklist demonstrated significantly better patient experience scores than matched controls.

Conclusions:

• Achieving a high OA checklist score (≥19, ideally ≥20) is recommended for practices seeking significant improvements in patient experience.
• The benefits of OA on patient experience are more pronounced in specialist care compared to primary care.
• Optimizing OA implementation is essential for enhancing patient satisfaction and care delivery.