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SURVEY FINDS COST, NOT QUALITY, IS AMERICANS' TOP HEALTHCARE CONCERN FOR THE NEXT CENTURY

Complementary survey shows medical students understand the economic realities of America's healthcare, but still strive to improve the quality of healthcare delivery.

Philadelphia (December 21, 1999)--Are the healing hands of healthcare being replaced by the business at hand? Regardless of age, race, gender or household income, Americans across the country indicate that their greatest healthcare concerns moving into the next century are cost and coverage.

According to a recent national survey commissioned by Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM), the majority (53 percent) of Americans are more concerned about increasing patient costs and decreasing medical coverage than they are about decreases in the quality of medical care (18 percent). While the Census Bureau reported Monday that one out of six Americans do not have medical insurance, the PCOM survey confirms that regardless of whether people do or do not have such coverage, medical costs are a major concern.

A separate study of tomorrow's doctors reinforced the views of the general population, as surveyors posed the same question to PCOM's first- and second-year students. The largest segment of student responses -- 35 percent -- viewed "decreases in coverage under managed care" as their biggest healthcare concern of the next millenium. However, as future doctors, the students were also very concerned about delivering quality healthcare, as concerns related to 'decreases in the quality of medical care' (26 percent) and 'decreased direct contact between patients and doctors' (21 percent) also garnered significant responses.

PCOM commissioned the two surveys in conjunction with their Centennial. "Over the last 100 years we have learned that medical training goes beyond teaching medicine. These results certainly prove that," said Leonard H. Finkelstein, DO, president of PCOM. "Consistent with what we teach our students -- ask questions and listen to the answers -- we commissioned this survey to gain a perspective on patients' and our students' healthcare views as we turn the century. Fortunately, the findings show that our students seem to understand patients and share their concerns, yet want to improve the quality of the care being offered."

21st Century Healthcare Hopes

Further solidifying the significance of the financial issues in medicine today, nearly one in five (19 percent) Americans cite increased coverage in managed care plans as their greatest healthcare hope for 2000 and beyond. At the same time, a slightly higher percentage of respondents (20 percent) are looking forward to increases in funding for medical research.

While the student response paralleled the desire for coverage under medical managed care plans to be enhanced (47 percent), they also showed a strong desire for increased direct contact between doctors and patients (33 percent).

21st Century Cures

Respondents were also asked about potential cures in the new century. In the national survey, 21 percent selected diabetes, over cancer and AIDS, for which they believed a cure would be found first in the new millenium.

Conversely, PCOM's medical students overwhelmingly believe AIDS (34 percent) will be the first for which a cure is found, followed by Alzheimer's disease (19 percent).
The national survey, conducted by Opinion Research Corporation International, consisted of telephone interviews with 1,016 people ages 18 and over living in private households in the continental United States. Completed interviews were weighted by age, sex, geographic region and race to ensure accurate representation of the total population.

For the student survey, PCOM posed the same three millenium healthcare questions to their nearly 500 first- and second-year medical students in a closed-end written survey.

PCOM is the largest osteopathic medical school in the country and the nation's fifth largest medical college. As a leader in primary care, over 65 percent of PCOM's graduates choose careers in family practice, general internal medicine, obstetrics/ gynecology and pediatrics.

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Additional Interesting Findings (National Survey)

21st Century Concerns

-- Respondents did not seem to worry about the number of doctors who will be qualified to treat them in the 21st century, as only 6 percent cited "a decrease in the number of qualified healthcare professionals" as their greatest healthcare concern.

-- Those in rural areas were more likely to be concerned about patient healthcare costs (35 percent), than those in urban and suburban areas (26 percent).

21st Century Healthcare Hopes

-- Although this era marks the information age, respondents did not seem to be seeking increases in the availability of healthcare information via the Internet, media outlets, etc. indicated by the seven-percent response rate. This finding was consistent across all age groups, 18--65 years of age.

-- Consistent with the notion that too few medical facilities serve low-income areas, 20 percent of those earning less than $15,000 cited an increase in the number of healthcare institutions, such as hospitals, nursing homes, etc. as their greatest hope. This was significantly higher than the average of other respondents (nine percent) with higher household incomes.

21st Century Cures

-- The American Cancer Society cites cancer as being the second-leading cause of death in the United States. Yet, only 32 percent of national respondents believed that a cure for breast cancer (18 percent), prostate cancer (10 percent) and an amazingly low four-percent for lung cancer would be identified first. Among students, each of the cancers combined for only 25 percent of the student sample.

-- More women (22 percent) than men (18 percent) foresee a cure for breast cancer. For men, the leading response was diabetes (23 percent).

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