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Maryland Measures Satisfaction of Medicaid Recipients
Survey of access and patient satisfaction of Maryland Medicaid clients
From 1992 to 1997, staff from the Maryland Health Care Access and Cost Commission developed and fielded a survey to measure Medicaid recipients' satisfaction with their medical care.
Key Results
- In 1995, project staff mailed a 67-item questionnaire—the Maryland Medicaid Recipient Survey—to a random sample of 3,000 Medicaid recipients.
The survey measured Medicaid recipients' perceptions of care and access to services they received in two settings:- An experimental Medicaid program called Maryland Access to Care.
- Traditional health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
Key Findings
- Generally, respondents rated HMOs less favorably than the Maryland Access to Care program.
- HMO enrollees gave worse ratings than Maryland Access to Care enrollee respondents to all three summary items in the survey:
- Overall rating of care.
- Evaluation of how many things needed to be improved.
- Whether the respondent would recommend a provider to someone with a similar health condition.
- HMO respondents also gave worse ratings on nine of 16 access-to-care issues, including:
- Choice of doctor or nurse practitioner.
- Length of wait for an appointment.
- Convenience of location.
- HMO respondents gave worse ratings on all questions related to interpersonal treatment by office staff and evaluation of the physician or nurse practitioner.
- HMO respondents rated out-of-pocket expenses as better.
- HMO enrollees gave worse ratings than Maryland Access to Care enrollee respondents to all three summary items in the survey:
Funding
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) supported this project through a grant of $109,943.