Most Massachusetts physician groups are using results from a statewide patient survey to help improve patient experiences, but a significant number are not making use of the information or are making relatively limited efforts, according to a new RAND Corp. study.

Although physician communication skills are thought to be crucial to patient-centered care, the physician groups studied rarely pursued strategies that focused on improving physicians’ ability to communicate with patients, according to the study published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Instead, physician groups most commonly focused on other improvements, such as staff courteousness, scheduling practices, and investments in electronic health records.

“It’s encouraging that most Massachusetts physician groups are using patient feedback to make improvements,” says Dr. Mark W. Friedberg, the study’s lead author and a natural scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “However, we were surprised to find only a small number of groups focusing on the physician’s role in improving patient care.”

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