Most doctors believe their voice is the one that matters when it comes to hospitals’ medical device purchasing decisions, according to a new study from Deloitte.
Six in 10 doctors participating in Deloitte’s 2013 survey of U.S. physicians ranked doctors as "the personnel with the greatest influence on medical technology purchasing decisions currently and in the next 3 to 5 years," according to the study, which was released late last month.
The annual survey gathered responses from a random sample of 613 physicians chosen from the American Medical Assn.’s master file, representing primary care physicians as well as surgical and non-surgical specialists.
Some interesting notes from the survey included the following data points on medical devices:
- Nearly half of all physicians said that in a bundled payment structure the "most important evidence needed when purchasing medical technology beyond safety and efficacy is the potential reduction in instances of needed care."
- 70% of physicians believe that "physician-led, peer review of new medical technologies (covering both efficacy and value) followed by use of evidence-based guidelines (six in 10 physicians) are the leading best practices in the selection and purchase of medical technologies."
Other data points of interest included:
- Primary care physicians ranked as the least satisfied group within the survey pool, with just 59% reporting that they were "satisfied with practicing medicine," compared to 63% of surgical specialists and 67% of non-surgical specialists.
- 60% of physicians said that they were pessimistic about the future of medicine.
- 40% of physicians said their pay had decreased over the past year, with 51% of responding physicians saying that their incomes will fall dramatically over the next 1 to 3 years.
- Two-thirds of all physicians said they thought that doctors and hospitals will become more integrated over the next 1 to 3 years.