As long as they don't nag

In a new payment system in Massachusetts, doctors will be paid per patient and not per service. The better a patient does the higher the reimbursement for the doctors. Go read this article to explain the whole thing but here's the basics:

This new system works like this:

"Primary care doctors, specialists and hospitals typically have billed insurance companies and government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid for each individual service they provide to patients, including office exams, lab and imaging tests, emergency room visits, and hospital admissions - with few limits on the number of services.

Critics say this system, called fee-for-service, encourages doctors to provide more treatment than is necessary and discourages coordination of a patient’s care among different providers.

In the new system of “global payments,’’ insurers generally put doctors on an annual per-patient budget. This budgeted amount is higher for patients with complex medical problems.

Doctors are expected to cover all costs associated with caring for the patient with this flat fee. When primary care doctors keep patients healthy and prevent expensive hospital stays and specialists’ visits, they get to keep more of the budgeted payment. If a patient’s care exceeds the budget, doctors lose money on the patient.

This arrangement may sound uncomfortably familiar to “managed care’’ popular in the 1990s - when patients accused doctors on budgets of withholding needed care. But insurers and doctors insist this time will be different, because the budgeted amounts are more generous, and because insurers are tracking the quality of care doctors provide to make sure they are not denying necessary care to stay within their budget."

Everyone will need to have a primary care physician or nurse practitioner or physician's assistant to oversee their care. By getting people in for preventative care they hope to keep costs down. Sounds logical - it turns the practice of medicine into a proactive system as opposed to a reactive system as much as possible.

I think I like this idea. It will help catch bad things before they get really bad. The more expensive the medical adventure is the sicker you probably are.

I don't mind being reminded to get annual mammograms and annual physicals but just don't start nagging me about the rest of my health issues. I really am trying to lose weight - for the record I wear a size 12 and would prefer to wear my size 8 wardrobe - and I know its going to take a while. I also like wine with dinner and cheese and crackers for a snack and have zero self control when faced with a box of donuts (but only eat one). At my job that I go to my desk has a clear view of the snack tray in the kitchen as well as the table which frequently has an open box of donuts, bag of bagels or hermits. If I am nagged I get cranky and we don't the world with a cranky me.