They would spend more time researching car and computer purchases. Most wouldn’t change their habits even if price and quality information were available.
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I don’t know if this is good or bad.
Yes
Why is Kevin inferring from these data that people don’t care who their physician is?
I know I certainly care, and so do most of the people I know.
I actually do study some of the performance ratings and I have to say they are pretty much useless for choosing an individual physician. The data is usually either aggregated for an entire practice group or it measures a very narrow range of indicators, such as diabetes care or childhood immunizations.
I want to know if the physician is a good listener. I want to know if he/she has good communication skills. I want to know if he/she has some skills and knowledge in dealing with my own particular health issues (adult survivor of childhood leukemia).
Another reality is that in smaller communities or rural areas, patients really have little choice in terms of who they see. There might be one primary care clinic with four to six docs. Some of the established docs might not even be taking new patients, which limits your options even more. The nearest available other clinic might be anywhere from 20 to 50 miles away – OK for the occasional specialist visit but tough for ongoing primary care. Then there’s the whole issue of networks and participating providers.
I don’t blame docs for any of this, but I do think the statement that patients don’t care is inaccurate and unfair.
I would say that as long as the physician they see accepts their insurance, most people care who they see, but there is inertia to change physicians once in a particular practice. However, there is almost immediate action once a physician no longer accepts a particular plan, even if it means spending more on gas going to that in-plan doctor and even if they don’t particularly like the new practice.
Sorry to say, but most patients are driven like sheep by their insurance carriers. I imagine that is OK by the insurers, and really, patients put up more of a fuss with the doctors who drop plans that renege on their charges than they do with the insurers whose policies thy have paid for. Go figure.
“patients put up more of a fuss with the doctors who drop plans that renege on their charges than they do with the insurers whose policies thy have paid for. Go figure.”
Most patients receive their insurance through group plans that their employers choose. I work for a company that’s 100% employee-owned but we still have no say in our insurance coverage (which in the last three years has gone from two HMO options to two PPO options to, currently, one PPO only).
It limits choice considerably, which is not to say the patient doesn’t care. In at least one specialty, given the physician options available in-network, I’d definitely go out of network for care. But cost does sometimes dictate what you can do.
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