PATIENT SATISFACTION: HMO Survey Rates Physician Groups

      Bay area medical organizations are "above average," according to a Health Net HMO member satisfaction survey. "Perhaps that's because Health Net's survey gave respondents just three choices: 'Excellent,' 'Very Good' and 'Good,'" the San Francisco Business Times notes. However, Dr. Antonio Legoretta, who conducted the survey, "admitted that in real world terms, those options translate into above average, average and below average." He said, "We didn't want to penalize them unfairly in the first public report."

Can Get Satisfaction
      According to the Business Times, Health Net asked more than 35,000 Bay Area members to rate physician networks on factors such as "access to medical care, ability to contact a doctor after hours or on weekends, length of waits, courtesy of office staff and perceived skill and experience of physician." Respondents rated four medical groups "above average": Brown & Toland, Hill Physicians (Fairfield), Palo Alto and Redwood Empire. They classified five groups as "average": Bay Physicians Medical Group, BayCare Medical Group, Hill Physicians (San Ramon), John Muir Health Network and Stanford University Clinic. Three physician groups were designated as "below average": North Bay Healthcare, San Jose Medical Group Inc. and Santa Clara IPA (Rauber, 3/30 issue).