FP Report -- December 1999
Will others follow suit?
UnitedHealth Group hands control back to doctors
You probably couldn't find a newspaper or television news program Nov. 9 that wasn't reporting on UnitedHealth Group's big decision.
The day before, United -- one of the nation's largest health insurers -- said it would no longer require doctors to get permission before performing tests or admitting patients to hospitals. Control, in other words, was handed back to the doctors.
The company was already approving more than 99 percent of requests for coverage, so the approval system was no longer needed, said Archelle Georgiou, M.D., chief medical officer of United Healthcare, a UnitedHealth Group company.
Prior to the Nov. 8 announcement, she and other United officials briefed AAFP leaders and senior staff and sought the Academy's perspective on the change.
"The erosion of physician control over medical decision making has been one of the sharpest thorns physicians have grappled with in the bramble of managed care," said John Swanson, director of the AAFP Socioeconomics Division. United's decision, if carried out as planned, could be good news for family physicians and their patients over the next few years, especially if other insurers follow suit, he said.
United serves 14.5 million customers in 45 U.S. markets, according to Georgiou.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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