HEALTH-EDUCATION AND PATIENT SATISFACTION

Background. The objective of this research was to determine whether pa tients who reported that their physician or other health care professi onal had discussed health education topics with them were more satisfi ed with their physician than were patients who reported they had not. Methods. Data were from the 1994 Health Plan Value Check conducted by the Pacific Business Group on Health (52% response rate). The study sa mple included 5066 employees ranging in age from 19 to 64 years and re presenting four large corporations and 21 health plans. This populatio n was randomly sampled by company and health plan. Bivariate and multi variate analyses were used to assess the relationship between level of patient satisfaction with physician and reported discussion of health education topics with a physician or other health professional in the last 3 years. Results. Patients who reported that their physician or other health care professional discussed at least one health education topic with them in the last 3 years were more likely to be satisfied with their physician (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.96; 95% confidenc e interval [CI] 1.79 to 2.25) compared with patients who did not. In t he multivariate model, the relationship remained positive and statisti cally significant (adjusted OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.32 to 1.68). This rel ationship was observed for patients enrolled in all types of HMOs and managed care plans, as well as those with indemnity or fee-for-service insurance. Conclusions. Patients who reported that their physician or other health care professional had discussed one or more health educa tion topics with them in the last 3 years were more likely to be very satisfied with their physician than were patients who reported they ha d not.