Doctors Referrals-For-Profit

Years ago, people's perception of a doctor may have been that of a committed professional dedicated to treating the medical conditions of his/her patients. Today, there are still doctors with similar values whose priority is to cater to the medical needs of their patents. However, throughout the years, a new type of doctor has been practicing medicine. It appears that selling medical services have become an added responsibility and norm for some doctors. Far too often, at the end of a medical visit, some doctors have been urging their insured patients to do a number of other tests that far too often may not be necessary. The doctors refer patients to a specialist (friend) to conduct these tests. Of course, these tests are generally very costly and no doubt all, including the referring doctor, profit from the payments made by the insurance companies and Medicare.

The referral-for-profit is prevalent in medical centers that cater to elderly patients. However, another case in point is that recently, Susan went for her yearly medical checkup. At the end of the exam, her doctor, as always, urged her to do a number of other tests. However, Susan decided to do only her yearly mammogram. A week and a half after the mammogram, Susan received a message from her doctor's office that she needed to contact them about her recent mammogram. Of course, receiving such a message made Susan very nervous as she thought about the worse that could happen. Upon calling the office, she was advised that she needed to schedule an ultrasound, and the test could be conducted at the doctor's office by a medical practitioner who visits the office once per week. As Susan scheduled the appointment, she felt even more distraught at the notion of the possibility of having cancer. Two days later, she received the customary letter from the breast care center that conducted her mammogram. At first, Susan did not open the letter since she believed that the contents would also confirm the need for the ultrasound. However, surprisingly, the letter revealed that her mammogram test was normal and there was no evidence of cancer or that any additional imagining studies such as an ultrasound are necessary. Susan is still waiting for a valid explanation from the doctor.

The news magazine television program, 60 minutes, ran a story on Medical Management Associates, a healthcare organization that owns a number of hospitals throughout the U.S. The story indicated that this company had been requiring doctors to meet a specified goal by finding reasons to admit those people who came to the hospital for simple medical treatment. This practice of finding reasons to check in these people for unnecessary medical tests, of course, generated millions of dollars for Medical Management Associates. The report also showed that those doctors who were unable to achieve the monthly goals were fired. The bottom line is to ask questions of your doctor if he/she is urging a number of tests, but you do not know why.