Cost Control and Physicians

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Abstract
In 1977, a Committee of the Maine Legislature considered a proposal to include physicians' offices in the Certificate of Need (CON) process. Ultimately, the Committee accepted the Maine Medical Association position and rejected the proposal. A survey was conducted of physicians of Cumberland County, Maine, to determine their attitudes toward the proposal. Questionnaires were sent out concurrently with the legislative debate; 163 were completed (55 per cent). Results indicated that there was not unanimous support of the Maine Medical Association position. Twenty-three per cent of the respondents favored the proposal. The older, more conservative physicians tended to be against the proposal. Behavioral expectations were measured by asking physicians what they would do if the CON proposal was implemented. Nine per cent of the physicians indicated that they would alter their practice in a manner that would have an adverse effect on the availability of care if the CON proposal was implemented. Cross-tabulations revealed that most of those who would alter their practices were close to retirement age. Thus, we can conclude that passage of the proposal would not have had an especially adverse effect upon the availability of care in Maine.

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