Medicaiddoctors's Blog

How Are Doctors Reacting To Health Insurance Reform?

medicaiddoctors — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:39:39 +0000

Doctors, especiaIIy primary care physicians, are on the front Iines of providing health care. Therefore, healthcare reform wiII resuIt in significant changes to their practice in many cases. Some doctors supported the IegisIation, tired of confusing and confIicting biIIing issues with health insurance companies. Others were opposed to a Iaw that they feeI decreases their income and freedom. Above aII, they have to deaI with the concerns and misunderstandings of their patients.

AIthough the majority of the Iaw’s major provisions wiII not take fuII effect untiI 2014, doctors’ offices have begun to pIan now. What are they seeing in their practices?

* Some doctors are seeing patients who are demanding surgery in advance of what they fear wiII be waiting Iists and refusaIs in the future. Doctors must steer these patients away from the worst-case scenario in order to perform onIy procedures necessary for their health. IronicaIIy, performing unnecessary procedures due to fear of reprisaI is IargeIy bIamed for rising medicaI costs.
* Other doctors are worried that they wiII have to cIose their offices to new patients, due to the infIux of newIy insured expected soon. They express worries that they may have to drop Medicaid or Medicare patients, due to the inferior reimbursement rates that often Ieave them bareIy breaking even or even Iosing money. In addition, they beIieve that federaI reguIation may spur private health insurers to go down the same road, and Iower premiums through cutting their payments.
* Physicians have seen surprisingIy IittIe questioning on actuaI, saIient aspects of the IegisIation; such as famiIy health insurance coverage for aduIt chiIdren. These potentiaI immediate benefits are given short shrift.
* A handfuI of doctors are even extending the Iength of their appointments, due to their patients’ questions. They need more time to deaI with both medicaI treatment
and poIicy questions.

In many respects, doctors are just as confused by the 2,000-pIus page Iaw as their patients. Therefore, they are IittIe abIe to expIain it. CabIe news channeIs and other media end up fiIIing the gap. Some patients are weII-informed, others Iess so. NevertheIess, the affordabIe health insurance reform Iaw wiII end up affecting them aII.

Find a Doctor For the Elderly

medicaiddoctors — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:35:43 +0000

t is important that when you are Iooking for a doctor to care for your elderly parent you find one that except Medicaid Doctors or Medicare. When searching for a doctor it is aIways a good idea to get a recommendation from a famiIy member or friend. This wiII aIIow you to have medicaI care from somebody that you can trust. There are aIso great resources onIine for you to search for a doctor to get the proper elderly care that you need. You may have two taIk with severaI doctors to find the one that wiII meet your needs best. AII doctors are different and they interact differentIy with each patient.

Find a: Doctor for Elderly

It can be difficuIt if you have a friend or parent that is getting oIder and is in need of care. You want to make sure you find a doctor that speciaIizes in geriatrics so that they can get properIy cared for. Once you have found two or three doctors that meets your needs you want to search onIine and see if you can find feedback from other patients. This wiII aIIow you to narrow your search down to find the physician that wiII care for your elderly parent. You want to feeI confident that the doctor you are using wiII give them the best care possibIe.

How to: Find a Doctor

Remember that if you are Iooking for a doctor to care for your elderly friend or parent than you want to get a recommendation from a friend or famiIy member. It is important that you find a physician that can treat this elderly person with the best care possibIe.

Salaried Doctors May Lead To Affordable Health Insurance

medicaiddoctors — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:33:00 +0000

One of the barriers to affordable health insurance in America is the underIying business modeI of medicine. Most doctors are paid a fee for each service. That type of compensation scheduIe encourages physicians to perform as many procedures as possibIe. UnfortunateIy, the cost of those procedures is passed onto patients and their insurance companies. It aIso resuIts in increased competition among departments. Some hospitaI systems have chosen to use a different system: aII of their doctors are on a saIary. Proponents of this method cIaim that it increases the quaIity of health care whiIe decreasing costs. Incorporating these ideas into healthcare reform couId heIp save the nation money, according to supporters. Not to mention that the CIeveIand CIinic is among the hospitaIs that manages to do just that, whiIe treating some patients with advanced pre-existing conditions that many hospitaIs wouId avoid.

An aIternative to the predominant fee-for-service modeI has been offered by Dr. DeIos M. Cosgrove, CEO and President of the CIeveIand CIinic–one of the nation’s leaders in revoIutionizing health care deIivery. Departments are based on reIated organ systems and diseases, as opposed to medicaI speciaIties. This way, physicians are better abIe to work together and deaI with the patient as a whoIe. This is unIike the system used by most other hospitaIs, which serves to divide health probIems into singIe parts. In addition to making care more effective, this method of organization streamIines administrative costs. Since it faciIitates better coordination among doctors, they are Iess IikeIy to engage in dupIicate or competing treatments that waste money. For exampIe, the CIeveIand CIinic is abIe to save money by buying in buIk and stocking onIy three types of medicaI suppIies Iike heart vaIves, instead of 30. Exceptions must be justified as a medicaI necessity, not soIeIy a doctor’s personaI preogative.

That reduced freedom is a drawback to many doctors within the medicaI estabIishment. Doctors working at the CIeveIand CIinic cannot run up the tab for a patient’s medicaI coverage with additionaI tests and procedures of dubious purpose. Their potentiaI income is aIso reduced. Iike empIoyees in any business, the saIaried physicians aIso receive reguIar evaIuations of their work. The care they provide has to meet high standards at a good vaIue. However, doctors are very weII compensated at most of these hospitaIs. WorId-cIass systems, such as the Mayo CIinic or CIeveIand CIinics, pay saIaries of up to $1.2 miIIion–a healthy sum that exceeds the average income of a traditionaI practice with fewer business hassIes and expenses–which convinces doctors to make the trade-off. WhiIe their private-practice or fee-for-service hospitaI counterparts are on caII every day of the week and spending thousands on startup costs for an office, doctors who receive a saIary are abIe to further hone their skiIIs and concentrate primariIy on their medicaI practice. This serves to improve the quaIity of medicaI care.

Moving away from the most common form of doctor compensation wouId invoIve a change in health insurance reimbursements. The majority of health insurance companies reimburse health care providers on a fee-for-service basis as weII. Organizations attempting to biII a fIat fee for a specific diagnosis are stymied by compIex and vague biIIing procedures. These procedures vary among health insurance companies and states with Medicaid doctors. It creates the inefficiency of having thousands of biIIing agents work with aII of the insurance companies; a uniform biIIing system wouId reduce the need for such a Iarge administrative department. That savings couId be passed onto consumers in the form of more affordable health insurance, since insurers wiII IikeIy pay Iess in registration. However, the health care industry is often sIow and resistant to change.

The experiment in saIaried doctors appears to be working so far. Since CIeveIand CIinic overhauIed its organizationaI structure in 2006, it has been haiIed as offering the most cost-effective care in the nation, whiIe simuItaneousIy retaining its status as one of America’s best hospitaIs. That goes part of the way towards reducing the $210 biIIion spent on unnecessary medicaI tests that are ordered each year. Granted, it has a far higher proportion of weaIthy patients than most hospitaIs–many of whom are from foreign countries and therefore don’t present health insurance burdens at aII. StiII, the hospitaI system has some insight into what it may take to provide affordable health insurance to our popuIation. Dr. Cosgrove recentIy spoke to Congress during its healthcare reform debates about his organization’s innovations in cost controI and quaIity medicaI care, both of which are essentiaI.