Primary care physician satisfaction with case management.

Primary care case management is frequently proposed as one mechanism to reduce the overall cost of health services. This concept places a utilization control function upon primary care physicians who, under primary care case management, must approve all patient access to specialty physician services and hospital services. This utilization control function, often called the gatekeeper role, places new responsibilities on primary care physicians. In this study we surveyed primary care physician attitudes regarding their role as case managers.