How Do Assessments of U.S. Patients Compare to Assessments of Patients in Other Countries?
The Commonwealth Fund ( http://www.commonwealthfund.org/ ) regularly surveys the experiences of patient in several countries. The 2008 survey focused on patients who had at least one chronic condition (arthritis, cancer, depression, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, lung problems) and was conducted in eight countries (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Figure 9 provides highlights of the findings. [B]Because the questions focus on problems, a higher score represents poorer performance.[/B] Patients with chronic illnesses in the United States report more problems than patients in any of the other seven countries with access problems related to cost and with having received wasteful care. These same patients report the best experiences among the countries surveyed with waiting times to see a specialist. In most other categories, U.S. performance is in the middle. Source: RAND, Schoen C, Osborn R, How SKH, Dot
