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December 14, 2011 at 09:45 AM
Only 8% of U.S. doctors — and just 4% of U.S. primary care doctors — give the U.S. health care system an A.
About 45% of all doctors and 47% of primary care doctors give the health care system a grade of C, according to analysts at the Deloite Center for Health Care Solutions, Washington, an arm of Deloitte Development L.L.C.
The analysts commissioned a survey of 501 doctors who are in a database provided by the American Medical Association, Chicago.
The analysts organized the survey to look at what doctors are thinking about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA).
About 44% of all doctors surveyed, 39% of the primary care doctors and 60% of the surgical specialists think PPACA is a good start; 44% of all the doctors, 45% of the primary care doctors and 28% of the surgical specialists think PPACA is heading in the wrong direction.
The doctors ranked consumer behavior as the most important factor driving up health care costs, defensive medicine as the second most important factor, insurance company administrative costs as the third most important factor, and hospital costs as the fourth most important factors.
Doctors were about as likely to blame hospitals and drug makers for driving up costs as they were to blame insurance companies, and almost as likely to blame the money spent on end-of-life care.
SBC RULES: EMPLOYERS CAN HANDLE THAT
Large employers seem to be dealing the coming need to comply with new federal PPACA Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) rules without noticeable panic.
HighRoads Inc., Woburn, Mass., a benefits compliance firm, says it surveyed large employers in November and found that 58% believe they are prepared to produce SBCs by the original March 2012 deadline, even though regulators have been slow to get the final SBC rules out.
