The report includes responses from 13,575 physicians. The survey was conducted on behalf of The Physicians Foundation by Merritt Hawkins and completed in September 2012.
The top 10 major drivers of rising health costs, according to respondents, are:
• Defensive medicine — 69.1 percent
• Aging population — 64.9 percent
• Cost of pharmaceuticals — 59.1 percent
• Advances in technology/treatment — 51.2 percent
• Social conditions (poverty, drugs, violence, illegal immigration, etc.) — 43.5 percent
• State and federal insurance mandates — 41.6 percent
• Lack of pricing transparency — 40.5 percent
• Limited patient financial obligations — 39 percent
• Absence of free markets — 37.2 percent
• Fraud — 18.8 percent
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