They can choose confrontation and resistance, refusing to go along with rules they find objectionable. Physicians can choose to withdraw from a fight. Withdrawal may be a sound tactical decision if it means conserving resources to fight more important issues. But the strategy can also readily lead to defeatism if it is based on the cynical view that trying to change objectionable government policies is a waste of time. Another course of action is to engage the federal government and discuss concerns and possible remedies.
Engagement carries certain risks.
For one, it usually results in compromise and requires a willingness to accept less than what was originally wanted. In addition, physicians risk becoming co-opted and can end up defending governmental policies that remain unacceptable to most of their colleagues. The public and its elected lawmakers want to see fraud reduced, and the medical profession could not risk being seen as standing on the wrong side of this issue. The federal government's efforts on Medicare fraud represent a classic example in which physicians had to decide among confrontation, withdrawal or engagement. Many physicians viewed the federal government's antifraud campaign as a direct attack on their professional integrity.