Survey Reveals Physicians Are Worried

By Greg Bengel, contributing writer

athenahealth’s Physician Sentiment Index reveals a wide range of opinions on EHRs, ICD-10, government involvement, and more

A nationwide survey of physicians paints a wide range of opinions on a variety of healthcare topics, but the authors sum up the overall sentiment of the survey by simply writing, “Physicians are worried.” The survey of 1,200 physicians, titled the Physician Sentiment Index, was conducted by athenahealth in conjunction with Epocrates.

Healthcare Informatics reviewed the survey, writing, it is a “mixed bag of opinions among doctors regarding how well electronic health records (EHRs) are working for them, with a range of views about the efficacy, cost-benefit analysis, and usability, of EHRs. Meanwhile, attitudes towards government involvement in healthcare have become more positive in the past year. But there remains concern over the transition to the ICD-10 coding system.”

athenahealth issued a press release summing up the survey results saying, the Physician Sentiment Index “shows industry confusion, grim outlook on future, a failing among EHRs, and struggles for independent doctors.” The release quotes Todd Rothenhaus, MD and CMO of athenahealth, as saying, "Doctors are besieged by change and requirements and it's incredibly difficult for them to keep up. The findings of the 2013 Physician Sentiment Index send up a number of warning signals. As an industry and country, we need to pay attention to the fact that doctors are overwhelmed and challenged in areas they shouldn't be.

"Physicians lack the time and, in too many cases, the resources to thrive through change. They need better support and need to know there are tools and services to remove the 'busy' work, so they can focus on patient care."

Regarding EHRs, the survey seems to indicate that they are liked, but they may not be worth the cost. Most physicians, the survey reveals, have a favorable opinion of EHRs. Of survey respondents, 31 percent have a “very favorable” opinion, 38 percent has a “somewhat favorable” opinion, 14 percent have a neutral opinion, and 18 percent have an unfavorable opinion.  Also, 68 percent feel that EHRs improve care quality. However, the majority of physicians (51 percent) do not think that the benefits of EHRs outweigh the costs. The survey also indicates that the design has a ways to go with 47 percent of physicians say EHRs were not designed with physicians in mind.

Physicians are also pessimistic about the government’s ability to lower costs. Only 38 percent felt that more government involvement would lower costs compared to 55 percent who felt it would not. The trends were similar in regards to whether or not more government involvement would improve quality outcomes. “Still,” points out Healthcare Informatics, “it is worth noting that the percent of those agreeing or strongly agreeing that the government could help lower costs through regulation rose from 25 percent in 2012 to 38 percent in 2013; and the percent agreeing that government regulatory involvement could improve care quality outcomes rose from 20 percent in 2012 to 35 percent in 2013, a very significant increase”

It is not surprising that the results about ICD-10 are mixed. Only 7 percent of physicians were “very confident” that their EHR vendor would help them with a successful transition to the ICD-10 system, and 27 percent were “somewhat confident.” Again, many were neutral (41 percent), while 19 percent were “not very confident” and 7 percent were “not at all confident.”

There were areas of consensus as well. When asked how they felt about the potential for independent and small business groups to survive, a startling 78 percent said they wouldn’t count on it. And, according to the press release, “More than 60 percent of providers believe the current healthcare climate is somewhat-to-very detrimental to care - a consistent trend over the past four years of the PSI survey.”

Happily, fewer physicians in 2013 said “getting paid has become more of a burden and complex” than in 2012. That goes for reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers.

This article from EHR Intelligence also takes a look at athenahealth’s survey, pointing out the possibility that a lack of knowledge may be leading to a lot of the pessimism. It cites the fact that three-quarters of physicians said that they have only “heard of” or are “somewhat familiar with” the idea of ACOs as evidence.