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New Online Study Finds Doctors Uninformed on Concept of Linking Quality Measures to Compensation
Parsippany, NJ – In response to the American
Medical Association’s recent pact with Congress to develop
more than 100 standard measures of performance, physicians from
across the United States have voiced their opinions on this issue.
In this HRA Research Internet study of physician attitudes on pay-for-performance
and quality of care, 62% of the 2,727 doctors surveyed do not support
the Bush administration’s push to publicize performance of
health care providers and link Medicare payments to quality via
“pay for performance” arrangements.
While nearly two-thirds of the physicians do not support the concept
of linking payment for healthcare services to quality, the real
story on this timely healthcare issue might not be in what doctors
know but in what they don’t know on this topic. A telling
statistic is that 44% of the docs reported that they are not sure
if they agree or disagree with the accord that the AMA and Congress
forged and 36% of doctors are unsure if they are open to the concept
of pay for performance.
“Despite the fact that this issue could have a significant
effect on the way that doctors are compensated for their services
in the not too distant future, it appears that many physicians have
not yet developed opinions on this topic,” said Marianne Stephen,
president of HRA Research, a healthcare market research organization
that specializes in garnering the opinions of physicians, nurses
and allied health professionals for pharmaceutical, biotechnology
and medical device companies.
Drilling down deeper on the topic, the study revealed that 41%
of the doctors do not believe that the standard measures of performance
that the AMA will develop will result in improved quality of care
for patients and nearly one-quarter (23%) do not believe that it
is necessary for the AMA to develop any standard measures of performance.
Notwithstanding those beliefs, almost half of the physicians (46%)
have witnessed insurance companies, consumer groups and large employers
who pay for health care requesting information on quality of care.
“The fact that nearly 50% of the doctors in this study have
had this growing payer segment asking for information related to
this topic is telling of the direction and growth of this trend,”
added Stephen.
Although there are many diverse opinions on the many aspects of
this issue, there appears to be almost complete agreement on who
should be responsible for the development of the performance measures.
92% of the physicians surveyed stated that they believe specialty
medical societies (not the American Medical Association) should
be given the responsibility to craft these measurement criteria
within their areas of expertise.
HRA Research conducted this Internet research survey from March
10 - 17, 2006. A nationally representative sample of 2,727 hospital
and office-based physicians practicing within the United States
participated in the study. The following specialist segments were
included in the study: Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Dermatology,
Emergency Medicine, Endocrinology, Family Practice, Gastroenterology,
Geriatrics, Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine, Nephrology, Neurology,
OB/GYN, Oncology, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Pulmonology,
Radiology, Rheumatology, Surgery and Urology.
HRA Research is a leading market research company that specializes
in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.
Our complete portfolio of syndicated products and custom research
services provide our clients with actionable intelligence from the
office and hospital setting. HRA utilizes both quantitative and
qualitative research tactics to gather data on healthcare products
at every stage of their lifecycle. For additional information on
the Physician Perceptions of Pay for Performance and Quality of
Care study or to access detailed graphics on any physician specialty,
please contact Jeff Chase at jchase@hraresearch.com
or (973) 240-1216.
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