Survey: Reform law requires more trust between docs and hospitals

The successful implementation of the new healthcare reform law will hinge on physicians and hospitals working out trust issues with one another, according to a new survey.

The reform law requires increased collaboration and information sharing between physicians and hospitals, including through new accountable care organization (ACO) arrangements, to reduce costs and increase quality.

However, one in five physicians don’t trust hospitals, and 60 percent of hospitals believe it will be difficult to obtain information from community physicians to improve patient care, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey. Physicians said they were less inclined to trust hospitals because of competing goals, not enough physician leadership on hospital boards and lack of transparency, communication and similar incentives.

The relationship between physicians and hospitals soured during the 1990s, as hospitals bought and sold physician practices and physicians opened outpatient surgery centers and special hospitals to compete, the report said. However, the trend is reverting back toward consolidation, the PwC survey said. Almost three-fourths of physicians surveyed said they have financially aligned with hospitals through employment, joint ventures or directorships, and 58 percent said they want a closer financial relationship.

More than half (54 percent) believe hospitals and physicians will become more aligned over the next five years through ACOs, which were incentivized in the reform law. The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to release regulations on ACOs by early next year.