Survey: Doctors Wary of Health Care Reform
A national survey of 1,200 physicians indicates doctors are uncertain of the impacts of health care reform on their practices.
The results compiled in the Physician Sentiment Index (PSI) by athenahealth, Inc., a Watertown-based health care IT company that has been surveying physicians on various industry changes for the last four years, showed doctors are skeptical about federal health care reform on multiple fronts.
Independent doctors, who account for more than half of respondents, are feeling the most pressure due to changes in the industry and federal health care reform requirements, according to the PSI. Most doctors said while they believe the shift from fee-for-service reimbursement models to a managed care system will positively impact the quality of care, the most also believe it will negatively impact profits and increase the burden to get paid.
Despite concerns over the bottom line, doctors reported limited familiarity with Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), which incent physicians to reduce the cost of care by tying federal reimbursements to quality metrics. Nearly 75 percent of physicians surveyed said they had only heard of or are somewhat familiar with ACOs, and 26 percent said they don’t know whether they’ll be participating in ACOs or similar models.
And though doctors though the shift from a fee-for-service reimbursement model will positively impact care, more than 60 percent said they believe the health care climate will be somewhat-to-very detrimental to care. Nearly 60 percent of providers said they think the quality of medicine will decline in the next five years , and more than half said they don’t believe the government’s involvement in health care will lower costs or improve outcomes.
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