The pollster reached physicians by obtaining a list of doctors licensed to practice in Massachusetts. In our survey of doctors, specialists more than general practitioners said they really don't like managed care. The hardest, and most important, thing about this is to find doctors who will talk. That was a lot of work. It took a long time to find doctors who would talk.
Patients are relatively easy.
A Wellesley doctor who can spend only 15 minutes with most patients called the HMOs bad medicine. This opinion was held by a substantial number of the surveyed doctors. About the same number thought HMOs prevented doctors from providing needed care in order to save money. He has had to enforce guidelines of individual HMOs and some patients take it out on him. There were doctors who thought managed care works better for them and their patients.