Martin's Point Health Care Gets High Marks From Military Dependents, Retirees

Independent survey finds that 90% of USFHP patients are satisfied with care at Martin's Point locations

PORTLAND, Maine - An independent survey recently released found that nearly 90 percent of military dependents and retirees served by Martin's Point Health Care are satisfied with their health plan.

The 89.5 overall satisfaction percentage for the 2001 survey is nearly 20 percent higher than last year's national average of 70.2 percent among comparable military programs.

Martin's Point, Maine's largest primary care practice, is one of seven designated providers of the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan (USFHP), a managed care plan that provides services to about 100,000 retired military personnel and eligible family members of active-duty and retired military personnel nationwide.

Martin's Point serves more than 17,000 USFPH members in southern Maine and southern New Hampshire, as well as about 33,000 patients under other major commercial health plans such as Maine Partners, HealthSource, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Harvard Community Health Plan, Aetna, Cigna, as well as Medicare, Medicaid and others.

"The 2001 survey demonstrates our ongoing commitment to providing military dependents and retirees with access to quality health care, both in Maine and New Hampshire," said Dr. David Howes, Martin's Point president and chief medical officer. "It's very important we continue to measure how we serve and satisfy this most deserving population."

Among the other survey findings were:

- Nearly 93 percent of USFHP members served by Martin's Point were satisfied with their ability to access needed care.

- Almost 84 percent of members say they would "definitely recommend" their USFHP plan, up from nearly 70 percent last year and just under 73 percent in 1999.

- Nearly 85 percent of members said they were satisfied with Martin's Point primary care providers. That compares with the 2000 national norm of about 73 percent.

- More than 87 percent of members said they were satisfied with the medical specialists affiliated with Martin's Point. That compares with the national norm of 75 percent.

The survey also found that the Martin's Point practices closest to the Brunswick Naval Air Station - Brunswick Pediatrics and Brunswick Family Practice - received overall satisfaction percentages of 98.5 and 96.6, respectively. In addition, 90 percent of USFHP members were satisfied with the overall care they received at the Martin's Point location in Portsmouth, N.H., the site nearest to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

USFHP contracted with Market Street Research Inc. of Northampton, Mass., for the survey, conducted by telephone in January with 435 Martin's Point USFHP members. The questions met the requirements of performance measures reviewed annually by Martin's Point, and were compared with benchmarks published by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Headquartered in Portland at 331 Veranda St., Martin's Point is a non-profit health care provider established in 1981 with facilities in Portland, Brunswick and Windham, Maine, and in Portsmouth, N.H. Martin's Point has a staff of more than 300 health care professionals and serves 50,000 patients. The organization has been accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations since 1996.

Martin's Point serves patients in the areas of family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, radiology, cardiology, mammography and other fields. For additional information on Martin's Point Health Care, visit online at http://www.martinspoint.org.

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