Maine doctors worst in the US, patient study says
Mainers rate their doctors as the worst in the country, according to a new study.
The state’s physicians received the lowest average score across the nation in the 2020 Patient Sentiment Report, an analysis of feedback from 8.4 million health care consumers by the Medical Group Management Association and provider rating website Healthgrades.
Released Tuesday, the study examined quantitative and qualitative data from the ratings patients gave their doctors, and then scored them on six attributes: bedside manner, communication, skill and care quality, staff, length of office visits, and waiting time for office visits.
The study didn’t reveal specific scores, but provided a ranking of how physicians fared in each state and the District of Columbia. Overall, Maine ranked No. 51. Among the six attributes, the state ranked No. 50 for three: bedside manner, communication and skill and care quality.
The report cautioned that the ratings are based only on patients’ impressions.
“It’s important to note that any patient assessment of a doctor’s skill or care quality is based on personal perception, and that the doctor may have provided expert, high-quality care that did not, for whatever reason, match up with the patient’s individual expectation,” the report said.
Doctors in some other New England states also received poor scores. Massachusetts ranked No. 44; New Hampshire, No. 39; Rhode Island, No. 48; and Vermont, No. 45. But Connecticut physicians got a more positive diagnosis, ranking No. 11.
New Jersey was the state where physicians received the highest average rating.
In a news release, MGMA President and CEO Halee Fischer-Wright said, “A healthier world is achievable when we in health care understand how to build healthier relationships among physicians, patients and staff. This data demystifies the factors that will elevate patient experience: High-quality care, operational excellence and meaningful communication together build the foundation for the way we want health care to work."
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This is a result of the transition from private practice, where doctor-patient relationships were stronger, to corporate medicine, where dollars are more important. The EMR has added to the problem - more screen time, less face to face time with patients, and greater physician burnout. Glad to be retired from medical practice, but worried about my own care in the years to come.
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