IAPAC Survey Shows Physicians Have Reservations About Health Care Reform
A recently released survey conducted by The International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC) showed that while clinicians do support health care reform, many are concerned about issues such as increased caseloads, improper reimbursement, and the possibility of rationing care for HIV patients. The survey was conducted online, contained 10 questions, and received 400 responses from various clinicians, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and physician-assistants.
Fifty seven percent of respondents supported HIV-specific provisions in the new legislation, while 43 percent were against “special treatment” of people who require HIV care. Those who rejected the idea of specializing HIV needs believed that doing so would be a form of discrimination that could backfire and prevent patients from receiving proper HIV care.
In response to questions asking how the new health care reform would impact their practices, clinicians responded with both positive and negative answers.
Positive effects on clinicians’ practices:
- Integrating HIV care into primary care (17%)
- Stabilizing finances for their practices (7%)
- Lower drug and administrative costs (7%)
Negative effects on clinicians’ practices:
- Increase the number of HIV patients per practice (larger caseload) (23%)
- Increase in paperwork (23%)
- Decreased reimbursement (13%)
- Rationing of HIV care (10%)
Clinicians also placed recommendations on what they thought would be important to include in health care reform legislation. Some of the recommendations made were:
- Including prevention as a part of HIV care (21%)
- Providing for proper clinician reimbursement (18%)
- Prohibiting insurance discrimination based on HIV diagnosis (14%)
- Guaranteeing HIV drug access (14%)
Finally, when asked about their support of public health insurance, 73 percent of respondents supported the option, while 25 percent rejected it and two percent remained undecided.
The survey comes at a time when Congress is rapidly trying to pass health care reform legislation. The new plan would extend health insurance coverage to those Americans who are uninsured, while still trying to keep health care affordable. The results of this survey show that while support for health care reform amongst health care providers is strong, there remains some divide as to which issues need the most emphasis.
For more information on the survey, please see the press release from IAPAC.
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- Beacon NewsFlashes – October 23, 2009
- Global Report Shows Economic Crisis May Hurt HIV/AIDS Services
- NIH And Washington, D.C., To Fight The HIV Epidemic With New Partnership
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