On Oct 29, 2008, at 10:23 AM, John Williams wrote: > Bruce Bostwick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> At the very least, put actual practicing MD's in charge of the >> medical >> decisions to cover or not cover treatment, and hold them accountable >> for permanent health consequences if they dodge covering a treatment >> that turns out to have been medically necessary? > > And watch in horror as they order every expensive diagnostic procedure > and treatment in the book for a simple cold, in order to cover their > asses.
Over the heads of your primary care provider, in other words? It's one thing to say no to a treatment or diagnostic procedure the doctor actually in front of you has ordered. It's another thing entirely to order tests or treatments the doctor *didn't* order him/ herself. And it would be a vast improvement over anonymous bean counters arbitrarily denying care because it might actually cost money. It might even make it worth working as a doctor in this country again. (An MD friend and former teacher of mine recently told me she wouldn't recommend anyone she knows go into medicine these days, because it's almost not worth seeing patients between the legal pitfalls, malpractice insurance, and patients' HMO's saying no to just about everything she orders or prescribes.) "They love him at a barbecue, not so much with the nuclear launch codes." -- Toby Ziegler _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
