Bad bill

Nearly three-quarters of healthcare executives surveyed earlier this month say healthcare reform will have a negative financial impact on their facilities, while more than 60% note that reform will have a somewhat or very detrimental effect on the quality of care their facilities are able to provide.

The survey was conducted by AMN Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of comprehensive healthcare staffing and management services. The survey was targeted to executives who will be among those responsible for implementing the new healthcare system put into place by healthcare reform.

"AMN’s survey signals that the initial response to healthcare reform by the majority of hospital and medical group leaders is one of concern and it highlights that many healthcare executives are apprehensive about how reform will affect their facilities," Susan Nowakowski, AMN Healthcare’s President and CEO, said in a statement.

The survey was sent by email to 7,000 healthcare executives on April 7, 2010, two weeks after health reform was signed into law by President Barack Obama. One hundred seventy-two responses were received by April 15.

SURVEY FINDINGS
• Only about one in five of those surveyed (22%) were greatly or moderately pleased by the passage of healthcare reform, while almost three out of four (72%) were either somewhat concerned or very concerned about passage of the new law.

• Similarly, 63% said health reform will have a somewhat detrimental or very detrimental effect on the quality of care their facilities are able to provide, while only about 23% of executives said that healthcare reform will have a somewhat beneficial or very beneficial effect on the quality of care their facilities are able to provide patients.

• Sixty-six percent said healthcare reform will have a somewhat detrimental or a very detrimental effect on the overall quality of care all Americans are able to receive, while 27% said that healthcare reform will have a somewhat beneficial effect or a very beneficial effect on the overall quality of care Americans will receive.

• Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said healthcare reform will cause them to add more physicians, 56% said reform will cause them to add more nurses, and 56% said healthcare reform will drive them to add more allied healthcare professionals.