Attitudes and perceptions of Filipino family physicians toward the Universal Health Care Act
- Author:
Karin Estepa-Garcia
;
Louella Patricia D. Carpio
- Publication Type:Other Types
- MeSH:
Universal Health Care;
Physicians, Family
- From:
The Filipino Family Physician
2022;60(2):254-259
- CountryPhilippines
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Background:Family physicians are at the forefront of the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act as primary care providers, and their attitudes and perceptions of the law can affect its implementation. These must be explored so that adequate organizational support can be provided to its members.
Objective:This study describes the family physicians’ attitudes and perceptions towards UHC. It also determined if the attitudes and perceptions of family physicians are associated with the types of membership and their year of graduation from family medicine residency training.
Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted among active members of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians (PAFP) during workshops held between January to February 2020. The PAFP UHC survey was employed to members who were purposively sampled during the workshops. The attitudes and perceptions of family physicians were summarized through frequencies and percentages, while the relationship of selected variables to physicians’ attitudes and perceptions were determined through a chi-square test.
Results:A total of 195 family physicians from the three provinces and one city responded to the survey questionnaire. All (100%) participants reported a positive attitude toward their current practice, but this optimistic attitude slightly decreased to 85.4% regarding UHC. The perceptions of family physicians towards UHC practice are generally positive. Most have a realistic view on the comprehensiveness of service coverage (55.33%) and are agreeable to certification (84.62%) and accreditation by network (64.81%). Majority (82.17%) also have positive perception toward the future practice of family physicians. The year of graduation from training was found to be associated with their perception of the future practice of family physicians (p-value 0.048), and those with the older age group are more likely to report a negative perception.
Conclusion:PAFP members’ attitudes and perceptions towards UHC are mostly positive. Majority of respondents are positive about the inclusive PHIC membership, comprehensive service coverage, certification and accreditation, and the future of medical practice upon the implementation of UHC. The negative attitudes and perceptions of some members may be due to various factors related to the individual or to the processes of implementation and operationalization of the UHC law.
- Full text:PAFP-PDF-60-2-64-69.pdf
