Word: hmo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...very unlikely white knight is galloping over the hill to rescue the American public from the grips of penny-pinching health maintenance organizations: Just call him Dr. Deception. As more people depend on managed care programs for their routine medical care, doctors are increasingly bucking the HMO guidelines in order to give their patients the treatment they need. According to an article published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 39 percent of doctors surveyed in 1998 admitted to having deceived insurance companies at least once. And 54 percent of those physicians reported their rate of deception...
...doctors who bend the insurance companies' rules, according to the JAMA report, do it because they disagree with an HMO policy or restriction on care. "It's not difficult to be sympathetic to that impulse," says TIME medical writer Christine Gorman. "Often, doctors are faced with a judgment call: If a patient is going to be sent home to an empty house, with no one to take care of them, a physician may very well feel justified keeping the patient for one more night." And in fact, says Gorman, even doctors who admit to thumbing their noses at HMO guidelines...
...considering options to save the beleaguered HMO, state-appointed receivers, including Reilly, considered making the plan for-profit. While this option was not chosen, it remains a real possibility if Pilgrim faces future financial troubles...
...long as you're not afraid of using a little bit of elbow grease when you take your daily medications, UnitedHealthcare may be just the HMO for you. In an astoundingly brazen display of belt-tightening, the giant insurance company announced Wednesday they will require member doctors to write double-strength antidepressant prescriptions - with the understanding that patients will break the tablets in half to reach their required dosage. Someone who's taking 50 milligrams of the antidepressant Zoloft, for example, would take home a prescription for 100-milligram tablets and instructions to take only half a pill...
While United claims it will pass the penny-pinching savings along to customers in the form of lower premiums, some doctors worry the HMO's dedication to the bottom line could be dangerous for patients, who could inadvertently increase their dosages, resulting in sleep loss and nervousness - or worse. And, according to TIME medical editor Christine Gorman, United's plan could be more grist for the mill of anti-HMO rhetoric. "This takes the power to prescribe out of the doctors' hands and puts it in the bureaucrats' court, all in the name of cost-cutting," says Gorman. "This...