Who’s Paying Your Doctor?

A recent headline on Yahoo! News titled “U.S. Patients Don’t Want to Know How Doctor Is Paid” would suggest that most Americans don’t want to know how their doctor is reimbursed for care.

However, if you read the article rather than just the headline you may come to a different conclusion. According to the article, doctors financial relationships with insurance companies and HMOs has some folks concerned.

While the headline states that the majority of patients do not want to know how their doctors are being paid, the article states “only slightly more than half of adults -54%- wanted to know how their doctors are paid.” Read that again. More than half of adults surveyed, (that’s 54%) do want to know how their doctors are being paid.

The article does point out that payment arrangements between doctors and insurance companies and/or HMOs definitely can influence the quality of healthcare a person receives which is why some are concerned.

The authors of the survey report that patient demand for financial disclosure by their healthcare providers is expected to increase. More people will want to know how their doctors are being paid and more importantly, patients will expect physicians to discuss issues that relate to financial incentives from payers.

More than three-quarters of those surveyed believed that if doctors received a bonus for ordering fewer tests it would have an affect on their health care. Also, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed stated that they would pay more for care that they felt was important.

How will Americans pay for that care? Will it come out of pocket? Despite what the article headline reads, if someone was being paid a bonus to keep my healthcare at a minimum, I would like to be aware of such practices.

Yahoo News: US Patients Don’t Want to Know How Doctor Is Paid