By Thomas Grillo  |   Thursday, February 5, 2009  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Business & Markets

Consumers and businesses are worried about the impact of the nation’s economic downturn on their families and shops, according to a survey by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and Sovereign Bank.

In a study released this morning, 61 percent of the region’s consumers said they fear getting laid off, 44 percent are bracing for declining home values or foreclosure and 26 percent are concerned that they may not be able to get credit. Among business leaders, 73 percent believe Boston’s strength is in its colleges and universities but 74 percent said the cost of living is the city’s top challenge to getting and retaining talent. Another 76 percent said they are worried about attracting new consumers.

“There’s massive gridlock,” said John Hamill, Sovereign’s New England chairman. “It’s certainly not a good picture. Things are not so great right now.”

On an upbeat note, Christopher Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, said the state’s unemployment rate is performing better than the national average.

But he noted that in the last downturn in 2002, the state established a robust rainy day fund and emerged from the tough times through a series of spending cuts without significant statewide tax increases.

“Today, the state has made significant progress in the life sciences and green communities,” he said. “But we slap a ban on the ability of these drug companies to interact with physicians, so there’s an inconsistency in policy development at the State House.”

Ellen M. Zane, president and CEO of Tufts Medical Center, presented a seven-point plan to reduce health-care costs. She noted that physicians need to devise best practices in order to lower costs and eliminate the variation in how physician practices vary.

Doctors and patients need to figure out a way to manage disease, she said. “The old rule about how 10 percent of the patients can cause 70 percent of the bill is true,” Zane said.

Payment reform of the health-care system is long overdue, she said. Most providers get paid on a per-widget basis, Zane said, so the more MRIs hospitals do, the more they get paid. “We should get paid based on our outcomes and quality,” she said.

Zane said the $5 billion in administrative health-care costs nationwide can be trimmed through electronic record-keeping.

She also called for tort reform. “The fact that doctors run tests because of the fear of litigation can’t be separated from what it costs our society,” she said.