A recent survey was done by Medscape and WebMD. It is an annual survey where they ask doctors a series of questions. This year, the survey showed that many doctors regret that they decided to become a doctor. Some of the reasons why have to do with health insurance related issues.
The survey data is compiled into a report which is called “Medscape’s Physician Compensation Survey Report: 2012 Results”. The survey included responses from over 24,000 U.S. Physicians that were from 25 specialities. Overall, the survey finds that many doctors are frustrated and are fearful about what will happen once certain health reforms go into affect.
Many regret that they decided to become a doctor in the first place. This time, only 54% of doctors said that they would choose medicine again as a career. Only 41% said that they would choose the same specialty again. Only 25% of doctors said that they would choose the same practice setting.
Why are these doctors unhappy? One reason has to do with declining incomes. They are making less money than they expected, or perhaps than they had in the past. Compared with the income level of most Americans, though, doctors are still earning an amount that most people would consider to be high-income, or “rich”.
Another frustration comes from the amount of paperwork that doctors have to do. According to the survey, 33% of doctors spend more than 10 hours a week on paperwork and administration.
David Korn, a former dean of medicine at Stanford, and former vice-president at the Association of American Medical Colleges says that the lack of a single payer system is causing the paperwork. Doctors have to fill out multiple layers of insurance forms. One patient who is over the age of 65 can have Medicare and also secondary and tertiary insurance coverage. Each one requires a doctor to fill out a separate form.
Doctors also have worries about how they are going to get paid under the Affordable Care Act. Part of the ACA requires Affordable Care Organizations to receive payment from insurers, and then to divvy up the money among doctors and hospitals. Doctors are fearful that this could mean that the amount of reimbursements they receive could go down. The Affordable Care Organization is also supposed to reduce inefficient services. Doctors are concerned that their jobs will be deemed as “unnecessary”, and that they could end up unemployed.
Image by Alex E. Proimos on Flickr