Newsweek story on physician rankings features TAFP members

TAFP Past President Justin Bartos, M.D., of North Richland Hills, and Aaron Segal, M.D., of Dallas, were quoted in an April 17 Newsweek article about their experiences with physician ranking systems. The article, entitled “Making the Grade,” details the stories of some family physicians who have demonstrated a consistent level of quality care and yet have received poor rankings, either because their cost is above their peers or because of mistakes in the ranking systems.

“One insurer gave me their double-star ranking, meaning I am both high quality and low cost. That same month, a second company deselected me from their cost-efficiency network because I didn't meet the standards,” said Bartos in the article.

Segal told Newsweek that because the ranking systems use claims data to generate their results, when patients don’t comply with prescribed treatment, physicians get the blame.  “I tell my patient that she needs to see a specialist, and I write her a referral, and she doesn't go. If she lands in the emergency room three weeks later, the insurance company doesn't see the referral I wrote, they only see that my patient was hospitalized for something that was preventable,” he said in the article. “Then I get dinged on cost and quality, because hospitalization is expensive.”

Links:

Read the Newsweek story, “Making the Grade”

Read a related article, “Health Care Transparency” from TEXAS FAMILY PHYSICIAN