Patient Healthcare Seeking If There Were No Limits

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Preferences
• Healthcare Delivery Systems

Background:

• Healthcare systems face ongoing operational changes and constraints impacting patient care-seeking behaviors.
• Patient decision-making regarding healthcare access is influenced by various system-level factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze patient preferences for care seeking when financial and access limitations are removed.
• To understand the ideal first choice for healthcare needs irrespective of constraints.

Main Methods:

• A national survey was conducted (November 15-23, 2021) assessing patient preferences for healthcare sources without limitations.
• Responses were analyzed using a three-step process: grounded category identification, frequency tallying, and auditor verification.
• 1,211 usable responses were obtained for analysis.

Main Results:

• Nearly half of respondents (49.1%) preferred primary care as their first choice for handling most health concerns.
• Other significant preferences included hospital/health systems (11.9%) and convenient/accessible sources (11.6%).
• Specialists (8.0%) and sources prioritizing quality care (8.2%) were also noted preferences.

Conclusions:

• A substantial majority of patients favor primary care when barriers to access and cost are eliminated.
• Healthcare systems should align with patient preferences by supporting and enhancing primary care access.
• Strengthening primary care is crucial for improving patient care and health outcomes.