Greedy Trial Lawyer
Are Cash Customers The Answer To Dysfunctional Health Care System?
Category: Why Didn't I Think Of That?
A doctor, writing at The Wall Street Journal Online, puts his finger on patient churning as one of the major problems in health care today. Next, he describes America's health care situation as a fragmented health system. Then, he says some insurers' referral processes and the hoops the patients and I have to jump through to get basic things done are ridiculous. Next, he has had to turn insurance contracts down because of inadequate reimbursement and let some patients find a new doctor.
Dr. Benjamin Brewer certainly describes a dysfunctional and unhealthy health care system in the U.S.
Doctor-Patient Relationship Is an Endangered Species
BENJAMIN BREWER, M.D.Now primary-care doctors are pressured to churn patients through the office, to the detriment of relationship-building and possibly the health of their patients. At the same time, patients may have to switch doctors because of changes in their insurance.
I try to avoid the worst situations that I feel the fragmented health system can create. When deciding whether to be part of an insurer's network, I weigh whether the insurer's contract interferes too much with my shared decision-making with a patient. Some programs have interfered more with my care of patients than I bargained for when I signed up -- referral processes and the hoops the patients and I have to jump through to get basic things done are ridiculous and can undermine patients' confidence in me. I wouldn't sign up again for such programs knowing what I do now.
As much as I hate to do it to my patients, I've had to turn insurance contracts down because of inadequate reimbursement and let some patients find a new doctor.
Patients pay for the churning in terms of lack of adequate follow up, lost health histories, lower quality of service and possibly poorer health outcomes, especially those with chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes and heart disease.
What does Dr. Brewer suggest we do to correct these horrible circumstances?
As we consider proposals to improve our health-care system we need to rebuild and preserve the relationship between the patient and the physician.It's good for patients, and business.
Still wondering exactly what he has in mind? Here is a clue from his article:
The doctor-patient relationship started to go downhill when patients stopped paying their own office bills for routine care and third-party insurance and Medicare became the driving forces.
Dr. Brewer wants us to show up at his office with cash.
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