Gainsharing: More Data for Today's Congressional Hearing
BY LAING RIKKERS, OCTOBER 7, 2005
This morning, the Congressional Subcommittee on Health with be conducting a hearing on gainsharing. Speaking at the hearing as a witness, will be one our guest bloggers, Joane Goodroe.
In preparation for the hearing, AdvaMed (an industry group) funded a poll surveying 324 doctors on their opinions of gainsharing. 54% of doctors were against gainsharing because they were concerned that patients might be compromised. AdvaMed's president said "Gainsharing could undermine the use of advanced medical technologies, reduce innovation, and compromise the physician-patient relationship. It could be a risky gamble with patient health and technological innovation - and physicians know it."
In addition, MS Insights announced yesterday that they have nearly completed phase I of a new study they were conducting with Hospital Administrators and Cardiologists to "uncover attitudes, perception and anticipated actions" around gainsharing agreements. Phase I consists of in-depth telephone interviews with at least 20 hospital administrators/CEOs and 25 doctors. They found physicians to be supportive of gainsharing and said "patient care will not be compromised and may actually be enhanced as a result of standardization in the areas of product utilization and procedure methodology". Market Strategies' stated goal is to inform the device industry of emerging trends so they can better anticipate changes. The price tag for the results of phase I is $5000.
We will be back to you with a report on the hearing next week.
