Consumers want to know that however doctors are being paid, they're being paid to maximize outcomes, not to maximize or minimize utilization. It's the managed care company's job to manage that, not the consumer's. I think it's stupid when I hear members of Congress, with whom I speak every week, argue that it's important that consumers know how their doctors are paid. That's because doctors want them to know how they're paid so that consumers will pressure the insurance company to pay them more. It's just not going to happen.
Docs are out of the loop now, and so are hospitals.
Most hospital plans and physician hospital organizations failed. Insuring people is a huge business. When biggies like the Blues and Harvard Pilgrim and Aetna get in trouble, don't expect 25 docs in four hospitals to know what the hell to do. They don't know what to do, and most of them are going bankrupt. They're out of the loop altogether.