Their organization is in charge of quality control. Most Doctors are reluctant to release the lab results to patients."
YES! A resounding YES to all of the above. And who can blame them?
When the quality of the lab is lacking, we all can blame them. Most are not, but smaller labs have more frequent problems with QC. What is wrong with a patient having a copy of thier lab results? Some are idiots, who should be screened out, but others can benefit from the ability to refer to their results.
How many times does one patient see ten different doctors in rapid succession and get ten different CBCs?"
Rarely, unless the CBC is being monitored for response to a given treatment.
Out in these parts, every doctor seems to want to do their own lab work. IMO, patients visiting multiple doctors do end up with multiple copies of the same lab work.
"Another reason is because it is a profit center."
I could be wrong, but I believe physicians are forbidden from accepting "kickbacks." They may own diagnostic facilities in part or in whole, but such must be disclosed to patients they refer to any facilities in which they have a financial interest.
The in office lab must be paid for, staff need wages, and wages must be paid from revenue. There are probably no disclosure requirements for this, because it is obvious that the office owns the lab.
In practice there are doctors who order excessive tests, Some just do it because they do it. The CYA is a factor. But even in a CYA world, some doctors order tests on virtually every patient. Some of these order more tests with very similar patient symptoms than their partners do. Quantity of tests and lab work billed correlate to quality of care up to a certain point. Beyond... |
