RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Convenience or Continuity: When Are Patients Willing to Wait to See Their Own Doctor?
JF The Annals of Family Medicine
JO Ann Fam Med
FD American Academy of Family Physicians
SP 151
OP 157
DO 10.1370/afm.240299
VO 23
IS 2
A1 Shumer, Gregory
A1 Chen, Dongru
A1 Holkeboer, John
A1 Marshall, Lauren
A1 Kinney, Devon
A1 Sen, Ananda
A1 Klinkman, Michael
A1 Gold, Katherine J.
YR 2025
UL http://www.annfammed.org/content/23/2/151.abstract
AB PURPOSE Much of the literature on team-based primary care has focused on physician productivity, workload, and burnout. Less is known about how team-based care influences patient satisfaction and perceptions of the trade-off between continuity and access. This study assessed the preferences of family medicine patients for seeing their primary care physician (PCP) vs other team clinicians based on visit type and wait time.METHODS Our cross-sectional online survey asked patients about their primary care clinics, PCP, portal use, self-reported health, and demographics. For multivariate analysis, we used weighted logistic regression analysis with survey data to calculate maximum likelihood estimates and converted these to odds ratios. We controlled for age and self-reported health as continuous variables and for demographics as categorical variables.RESULTS We surveyed 4,795 adult patients and received responses from 2,516 (52.5%). More than one-half of patients preferred to see only their PCP for an annual checkup (52.6%), follow-up of a chronic condition (54.6%), or follow-up for a mental health condition (56.8%). Similarly, the majority of patients preferred to wait 3 to 4 weeks to see their PCP for issues possibly requiring a sensitive examination (68.2%), a new mental health concern (58.9%), or a new concern about a chronic condition (61.1%).CONCLUSIONS Our findings show that patients value having a PCP and maintaining continuity with their PCP. They also provide insight on when patients would prefer to wait to see their own PCP vs being seen more quickly by another clinician. As health care delivery and scheduling continue to evolve, these findings provide guidance for leaders in primary care.