Impact of national health care systems on patient evaluations of general practice in Europe.
OBJECTIVE
To examine associations between patient evaluations of general practice and characteristics of national health care systems.


METHODS
International comparative study in 17 countries, using international patient survey data (n= 25052) and data-bases for health care system characteristics. Dependent variable was patients' evaluation of general practice care. Five independent factors were examined: GP density, physician density, fee for service reimbursement, gatekeeper role, and first-contact role.


RESULTS
None of the associations were statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients were highly satisfied with general practice in different national health care systems. Descriptive tables on international variations may lead to misleading conclusions.
Wensing
Michel
M
Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, Leicester General Hospital, University Leicester, Leicester, UK. M.Wensing@wok.umcn.nl
Baker
Richard
R
Szecsenyi
Joachim
J
Grol
Richard
R
D005060:Europe; D005194:Family Practice / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans; D020793:Gatekeeping; D017048:Health Care Costs; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D007557:Israel; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey; D014481:United States