Low-income patients want closer connection to health providers

Low-income Californians want closer relationships with their doctors' offices—but not only with their doctor, according to a new poll. The survey, released Monday, found that most low-income patients would be happy to have a "team approach" to treatment that included not just a doctor but nurses, medical assistants, dieticians and health outreach workers. The survey of a representative, random sample of 1,024 low-income Californians aged 19 to 64 also found that a surprising number of people would like to use new technology to communicate with their health care provider, but relatively few do so today. The poll was managed and analyzed by Langer Research Associates of New York and funded by the Blue Shield Foundation of California.