Cherry, I am very glad that is your situation. The way manage care works changes from state to state, and even from county to county.
Here in Florida, specially Dade county, the situation is different.
And in an article published last year (can not remember where) They quoted several doctors from NYC, who were HIV Specialists saying how bad things were and that they wanted nothing to do with HMOs.
The problem is not just with HIV, see below.
From
Oncology Issues
medscape.com;
The Impact of Managed Care on Oncology Practice
Authors: Lee E. Mortenson, D.P.A., Shelah Leader, Ph.D., Rajiv Mallick, Ph.D., Jamie Young, M.A., James L. Wade III, M.D.
Summary
Results from a 1996 survey of oncologists show that managed care is adversely affecting patients' access to care and practice costs. In general, oncologists report managed care policies affect their clinical decisions and lead them to hesitate to prescribe expensive forms of chemotherapy, hospitalize patients, provide bone marrow transplantation or terminal and follow-up care, or enroll patients on clinical trials. Oncologists also report they must add office staff to deal with the increased administrative hassles that come when working with managed care plans. [Oncology Issues 12(5): 22-27, 1997. Association of Community Cancer Centers] |
