SACRAMENTO Eighty percent of California doctors believe that the current healthcare system forces them to spend too much time on administrative work and that patients are suffering as a result.

That is one of the findings of a survey of 300 state doctors commissioned by the California Medical Association. Results of the survey were released Wednesday.

"They are generally not happy with the administrative burdens that have taken them away from patient care," said CMA president Anmol Mahal, an internist from Fremont. "They dislike the system that has made administrative actions more time-consuming and burdensome."

Asked whether they are able to spend "as much time with patients as you consider necessary to provide good care," 80 percent said "no."

Further, 76 percent cited "limits and restrictions that insurance companies place on doctors" as a major problem.

The survey findings show that while doctors are working longer hours, they are spending less time with patients than in the past.

Mahal cited the administrative burdens of managed care as a major contributor to this phenomenon because doctors spend hours negotiating with health plans to receive authorization for specific diagnostic tests or to prescribe certain medications.

"There are many administrative hoops physicians have to jump through to get needed services," he said.

California doctors were divided in their opinions about whether patients receive better or worse care now than when they started to practice medicine 42 percent said care has improved, while 38 percent said the quality of patient care has degraded.

The survey did not address specific reform proposals being debated in Sacramento, but physicians were nearly unanimous in their belief that changes are needed. Eighty percent said the healthcare system in California is either "in crisis" (35 percent) or "in serious trouble" (45 percent). Ninety-one percent said the status quo is unsustainable.

Mahal said the survey results show that doctors continue to be satisfied with the clinical aspects of their job, noting that 81 percent said they would still choose to become doctors if starting their careers anew.

Still, the level of dissatisfaction with working conditions is such that a majority of state doctors, 55 percent, said they have considered moving out of California to practice elsewhere.

Three-fourths of that 55 percent said they are dissatisfied with their ability to make treatment decisions.