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Originally posted by john_cramer
And yet you say that's a bad thing?
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Absolutely!
The HMO determines far more than which doctor you see and which medications you can use. They also decide which type of surgery your cancer patient can have. They generally allow the least expensive treatment alternative with little regard to patient choice or outcome.
When disaster strikes as a result of HMO directed treatment protocols, they claim no responsibility. A typical HMO response is, " Your physician should always provide you with the very best treatment. If that is not the HMO approved treatment, we will not pay the doctor and the patient will be stuck with the entire hopsital bill, but this should not alter the doctors decision making."
When an HMO insists on specific treatment protocols, they are in effect "practicing medicine." Many states have seen that logic and the spectre of malpractice has limited their intrusion into the physician/patient treatment plans. With the threat of litigation removed, expedient, inexpensive and frequently dangerous treatment protocols will be mandatory.
When bad outcomes result, lawyers will go for the deep pockets. Your doctors.