In late December, a survey of 501 physicians was released by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions research group, whose parent company serves clients in the health care industry. Nearly half (48%) expected health reform to hurt their incomes this year, while 73% said it would not reduce costs.

Though this isn’t a scientific survey, and other such surveys have and will show physicians’ support for the Affordable Care Act, the early glimpse of the law’s potential impact will likely lead to economic pain for doctors and a diminished system for their patients. Indeed, the Deloitte survey found that 69% of the physicians are “pessimistic about the future of medicine” because of the law…

When surveyed by Deloitte, 83% of doctors said one likely change to the medical system as a result of the law would be increased wait times — an inevitable outcome of insuring millions more patients without a matching increase in the number of doctors. Not too surprising. Most doctors surveyed also noted that the changes will “pose considerable implementation challenges.” I suspect it would be hard to find someone in the health care industry — or any employer, for that matter — who would disagree with that expectation.