Healthcare needs, experiences and treatment burden in primary care patients with multimorbidity: An evaluation of process of care from patients' perspectives

Background: Patients with multimorbidity often experience treatment burden as a result of fragmented, specialist-driven healthcare. The ‘family doctor team’ is an emerging service model in China to address the increasing need for high-quality routine primary care. Objective: To explore the extent to which treatment burden was associated with healthcare needs and patients’ experiences. Methods: Multi-site surveys were conducted in primary care facilities in Guangdong province, southern China. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from patients (N=2,160) who had ≥two clinically-diagnosed long-term conditions (multimorbidity) and had ≥one clinical encounter in the past 12 months since enrolment registration with the family doctor team. Patients’ experiences and treatment burden were measured using a previously-validated, Chinese version of the Primary Care Assessment Tool (PCAT) and the Treatment Burden Questionnaire, respectively. Results: The mean age of patients was 61.4 years and slightly over half were females. Patients who had a family doctor team as the primary source of care reported significantly higher PCAT scores (mean difference 7.2 points, p