A joint survey conducted by the American Medical Association and 33 state and specialty medical societies examined what works and doesn’t work when conducting an Internet-based survey with physicians. An Internet-based survey of over 65,000 physicians was conducted in 2002 to determine their experiences with professional liability and what effect the current professional liability situation is having on patient access to medical care. Physicians had indicated in previous surveys that this was the most important issue effecting their practice of medicine. The data from the survey is being used to reform the tort system at the state and national level.
This paper will examine what effect the method of notification of the survey has on physician response to the survey. The following 2 methods of notification were used: email and postcard. Also, the paper will examine what is the most effective way to conduct follow-up with physicians who did not respond to the survey and what effect sponsorship of the survey has on physician response to the survey.