Objective: The Ministry of Health and Welfare in Taiwan launched the Family Physician Home Care Program for Individuals with Disabilities in 2019 to address the difficulty of disabled individuals in accessing medical care. However, the program’s case assignment effectiveness in Taipei City has been low. This study therefore aims to investigate the perceptions and attitudes of care managers regarding the program’s assignment effectiveness and difficulties through a questionnaire survey.
Methods: In July 2022, an anonymous online questionnaire was distributed to care managers in Taipei City Department of Health. The questionnaire covered demographics, experience with the program, and perceptions and attitudes concerning its assignment effectiveness. Statistical analysis was conducted to identify potential factors affecting successful case assignment.
Results: A total of 103 effective questionnaires were collected, including 91 care management specialists and 12 care management supervisors (together accounting for 84.4% of existing care management staff at Taipei City Department of Health). Most respondents were female (85.4%) with an average age of 38 years old. The most common professional licenses held were those of registered nurses (33.0%) and social workers (25.2%). Among the 92 care managers with case assignment experience, 91.3% reported an average of fewer than 5 successful case assignments per month, and 38% experienced over 20 case rejections per month. The top three factors perceived to influence case assignment success were “existence of regular physicians for patients” “shortage of available physicians,” and “inadequacy of physician capacity.” Logistic regression analysis showed that older care managers and those with nursing licenses were more likely to perceive physician home visits as beneficial to the program’s success.
Conclusion: Case rejection is the main cause of the program’s poor assignment effectiveness, highlighting issues with physician integration and capacity. To address these challenges, we recommend: 1. Integrating patients’ existing family physicians into the program; 2. Establishing a matching platform taking into consideration physician-patient familiarity, physician specialty, and patient’s medical habits; 3. Increasing program payments as an incentive to boost physician participation; and 4. Strengthening care managers’ training for enhancing care assignment success and improving communication with family physicians.