The White House and Congress continue to express their commitment to health care reform. Physicians continue to advocate for health care reform, but many of us disagree on how to deliver this. "Physician Voice" was created to allow physicians to express their concerns and further discuss the best way to achieve health care reform that provides the best possible care for our patients. Welcome!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Health Plans Cost Physicians $31 Billion A Year!
Physician practices report that overall the costs of interacting with insurance plans is $31 billion annually and 6.9 percent of all U.S. expenditures for physician and clinical services.
I strongly believe that the estimate of 6.9 percent is an underestimate.
We tend to underestimate, for example, while a secretary is on hold waiting for a company and trying to interact with patients, the loss of efficiency (like a managed cost "presenteeism") in addtion to the time that staff spend with these companies.
And it will vary greatly by specialty, region, and which companies may be creating more obstacles at the time.
let's see:
ReplyDeleteInsurers cost physician practices 6.9%
liability costs the 'system' 2 %
health care reform (insurance for all costs 3.5%
what really stands in the way of reform?
i say, lets do reform, get free health care IT to boot, and let the insurers and lawyers pay for it - there'd be money left over!
cr
I strongly believe that the estimate of 6.9 percent is an underestimate.
ReplyDeleteWe tend to underestimate, for example, while a secretary is on hold waiting for a company and trying to interact with patients, the loss of efficiency (like a managed cost "presenteeism") in addtion to the time that staff spend with these companies.
And it will vary greatly by specialty, region, and which companies may be creating more obstacles at the time.
FD