Doctors Say Cost Cuts Risk Patient Safety

Twenty percent of U.S. physicians surveyed say decisions about quality and patient safety frequently favor an organization instead of patients.

More than 1,000 doctors completed the American College of Physician Executives’ 2007 Quality of Care Survey, and the physicians said the four greatest obstacles to patient safety were:

— Lack of resources and money.

— Patient compliance and awareness of healthy habits.

— Poor communication among physicians, nurses and paraprofessionals.

— A desire to maintain the status quo.

Among the complaints made by doctors in the survey were that disposable instruments were being reused to save a little money, and tests were ordered by the radiologist as a way of making additional revenue, according to the survey published in the May/June issue of The Physician Executive Journal of Medical Management.

One doctor revealed that a chief operating officer said: We are like a donut shop. Our job is to sell donuts. If we don’t sell a lot of donuts we go out of business. Your job, as chief of emergency services, is to convince patients they need to be in the hospital and to convince doctors they have to admit patients. It is not your job to decide if the admission is good for patients.