Medicare and Medicaid require that certain information be reported for reimbursement. Employers and their insurers require certain information to be filed in the event of a workers compensation claim. Health plans require member eligibility and benefit verification. Specialists need patient reports from referring physicians, and vice versa. Many of these stakeholders' requirements encroach on the physician's time and relationship with the patient.
Most physicians believe they have a calling to serve mankind.
From the physician's perspective, interaction with the patient should always be the primary focus, but the administrative requirements of today's health care system detract from that focus. The system emphasizes transactions rather than relationships. As health plans approach physicians about improving interpersonal relationships with patients, they also need to propose ways to streamline the administrative activities required of physicians. If all the parties in Figure 1 would recognize one another's needs, the information they all require might be obtained with minimal intrusion on the patient-physician relationship and confidentiality. Health plans are very much in danger of becoming transaction-based commodities.