Starting next year, people in California may find it a bit easier to get in to see the doctor. The state is putting in place new limits on doctor wait times for the more than 20 million Californians who get insurance through HMOs.
The limits include 10 business days for non-urgent primary care, 15 business days for non-urgent appointments with specialists, 48 hours for urgent care appointments that don’t require authorization, and 10 minutes to speak with an HMO’s customer service rep. (A longer list is at the bottom of this San Francisco Chronicle story.)
The rules are the result of a law passed after people complained about waiting times in HMOs. An HMO trade group in the state called the limits a “reasonable compromise,” but said the rules would drive up prices, the Los Angeles Times said.
But some docs worry that HMOs may simply push them to work faster, rather than expand the network of doctors patients can see. “The pressure should be on health plans to have adequate networks of doctors,” a former president of the California Medical Association told the LAT.
Health Blog Question of the Day: Should there be a limit on HMO patients’ wait times to see the doctor?
Image: iStockphoto
Related posts:
- Shocker: Doctor Visits Are Getting Longer The standard narrative of contemporary medicine tells us that doctor visits with patients are getting...
- New Online Doctor Rating Site Treads Carefully A nonprofit called Consumers’ Checkbook is launching the latest effort to let patients rate their...
- House Health-Care Bill Wouldn’t Limit Balance Billing The House health-care bill has caps on how much health-insurance policies can require consumers to...
- Wait, When Is the Health-Care Debate Going to Be Over? The smart money has been saying this week that the final health-care legislation will look...
- Obit: Sidney Zion, Fought for Work Limits for Medical Residents Sidney Zion, moved by the death of his daughter to fight for work limits on...
About NewsHaven