Connecticut Physician Workforce Survey Results Released

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Public Health;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 30 Sep 2008 - 3:00 PST

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The Connecticut State Medical Society has released the results of a statewide Physician Workforce Survey funded by a grant from Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. The survey is the first to measure state physicians' attitudes about their work and about medical practices in general. The survey results revealed several challenges that affect health care access in Connecticut.

Doctors said making health insurance more affordable, reducing the administrative burden on physicians, regulating health insurance practices, and covering the uninsured are the health care reforms they consider most important. The survey also showed that new patients average a 17-day wait for an initial office visit. The longest average - 24 days - was in Windham County, in eastern Connecticut.

Physicians said they are having increasing difficulty finding referrals for their patients. They reported that the biggest reason was health plan restrictions. Doctors who were surveyed support an insurance pool to cover the uninsured and others such as those now covered by public programs.

The Institute for Public Health Research at the University of Connecticut conducted the survey, polling 1,077 physicians from 17 medical specialties.

Connecticut State Medical Society