More and more patients are being incented to act like consumers than they ever have before. They suddenly have choices. They can shop for doctors. They can pick their plan. But do they really understand what they are getting? John Tozzi from Bloomberg BusinessWeek writes a very interesting article on the difficulty it presents this week:
“For a marketplace to function, consumers need to have really good information about what the different plans are offering,” says Karen Pollitz, a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation. The ACA originally intended to make much more information about health plans available, such as data about how many claims a health plan denies and how many people leave the plan. Reporting those transparency measures has been delayed.
Greater transparency measures for managed care organizations is certainly on the way. If the ACA doesn’t force it then the consumer market will. And they are already are. LogistiCare has seen trends that indicate that managed care organizations are already customizing plans to attract members at greater rates and Medicare/Medicaid Advantage plans aren’t exempt.
How will consumerism affect healthcare? Don’t miss this article on how the Affordable Care Act is transforming patients to buyers and why it’s all so difficult to understand. Very interesting Bloomberg BusinessWeek. You can read the full article here. >>