Dr. Cherewatenko is now actively promoting SimpleCare as an alternative to managed care because he believes it can fix two of health care's major problems. First, many doctors are going bankrupt and leaving medicine because managed care has squeezed them financially. Second, SimpleCare offers patients access to quality care at an affordable price. To market the concept to physicians nationally, he has co-founded the American Assn. of Patients and Providers, based in his office in Renton, Wash., outside Seattle. Since 1998, about 40 medical groups have signed on as members.
Patients pay the total cost of all diagnostic tests and prescriptions.
SimpleCare is designed to appeal primarily to the 44.3 million uninsured Americans, he said. In Dr. Cherewatenko's view, SimpleCare's benefits make it a no-brainer for physicians and patients. Some industry observers, however, said they doubt that SimpleCare or variations of it will have much of an impact on managed care. That's because doctors' fees account for a small part of the total health care cost, with hospitalization and drug costs representing the lion's share. If you have a sore throat, the insurance won't pay for that.