NEW YORK, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. patients are more likely to visit an emergency room than a doctor's office after normal business hours than people in other countries, a study showed.
In the United States, 40 percent of primary care physicians said they arranged for after-hours care, the lowest of seven countries included in the survey, the Washington Post reported Friday. By contrast, researchers said between 76 percent and 95 percent of doctors in the other countries surveyed provided after-hours care, the Post said.
The New York-based Commonwealth Fund study surveyed more than 6,000 doctors in the United States, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Canada.
The study found that the United States lagged behind other countries in computer-aided areas as well, the Post said. These areas included computerized methods for reminding patients about follow-up care, prompting physicians to give patients test results or warning of potentially dangerous drug interactions.
The study also found that primary care doctors in the United States were less likely to be rewarded financially to improve the quality of healthcare provided, the Post said.
