Study: Majority of Healthcare Pros Opposed to Obamacare While Admitting Benefits

Coupa Software-commissioned research shows 56 percent are opposed to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) but majority also believe it could increase coverage and eliminate spending inefficiencies

SAN MATEO, Calif. – September 30, 2013 – Coupa Software, a leading provider of cloud-based applications for finance, today announced the results of its 2013 Healthcare Survey of 200 top healthcare professionals across the U.S. Findings show administrative redundancy and unnecessary complexities in our public and private healthcare programs are a major source of waste. The results come ahead of a pivotal week for the new healthcare laws, with exchanges officially opening for enrollment tomorrow.

As experts in efficient spending, Coupa is concerned about the issues facing healthcare professionals today and their impact on patient care. Coupa for Healthcare is one of the leading cloud applications that healthcare facilities around the globe rely on to reduce costs and risk unique to healthcare.

According to the 2013 Healthcare Survey, 78 percent of healthcare professionals identified spending inefficiencies in their workplace. Top concerns included:

• Wasteful spending (35%)

• Insurance mandated process work (32%)

• Late physicians (25%)

• Useless tests (22%) 

Once the ACA is fully enacted, 74 percent of those polled felt there would be positive benefits for patients, including:

• More Americans will have some level of coverage (57%)

• Increased preventative care services (36%)

• Lower hospital bills for patients (21%)

• Reduced healthcare spending for taxpayers (19%) 

However, 56 percent oppose most, if not all, of the proposals in the law. Ninety-three percent felt that there could be negative outcomes from the law, including:

• Quality of health insurance policies will suffer (53%)

• Access and effectiveness of care will go down (51%)

• Law is overly complicated (49%)

• Insurance exchanges will be poorly managed (42%) 

Despite the perceived complexities of the new law, 66 percent believe some in-efficiencies will be eliminated in hospitals and clinics as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act. These included:

• Unnecessary ER visits (35%)

• Staffing turnover (19%)

• Paper prescriptions (19%)

• Claims processing (17%)

“Simplifying our nation’s healthcare system is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Amit Duvedi, vice president of business strategy, Coupa Software. “The administrative complexity of our healthcare system raises costs for healthcare providers and hampers their ability to provide excellent care to their patients. Implementing the ACA will force providers to do more with less as new enrollees sign up for coverage. Coupa for Healthcare helps these providers identify cost reduction opportunities and streamline operations thus allowing more time to focus on patient care.”

About Coupa Software
Founded in 2006, Coupa Software is the leading provider of cloud-based spend optimization software. More than 350 customers in 40 countries use the Coupa suite of finance applications to amplify their spend power and reduce costs up to 11 percent. Only Coupa provides a suite of true cloud applications for finance, including procurement, expense management and accounts payable that lets customers to launch the solution immediately and quickly realize significant savings. Learn more at: coupa.com or call 650.931.3200. Read more on the Coupa Blog, follow @Coupa on Twitter, or follow Coupa on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/coupa-software.

Survey Methodology
The survey was conducted by uSamp (uSamp.com), the Answer Network, a premier provider of technology and survey respondents used to obtain consumer and business insights. The survey was conducted online from September 19-23, 2013 on behalf of Coupa among 200 U.S. healthcare professionals.