Line Between Insurers and Providers Beginning to Blur
July 18th, 2011
A Washington Post article reports that large insurers, UnitedHealth Group being the biggest example, are quietly buying doctors groups in an effort to more tightly manage the provision of healthcare. The trend reflects efforts by insurers to control costs by shifting physicians’ financial incentives away from performing more procedures and toward more cost-effective care. Consumer advocates are nervous about the implications, expressing fears that patients may be denied needed services and procedures on the basis of cost to the insurer; while the insurers themselves assert the new structure represents a change in the world of healthcare provision that will ultimately benefit consumers and better prepare doctor groups to meet the responsible care objectives of the healthcare reform bill.
Read the entire article here.
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