title: What does it cost physician practices to interact with health insurance plans?
abstract: Physicians have long expressed dissatisfaction with the time they and their staffs spend interacting with health plans. However, little information exists about the extent of these interactions. We conducted a national survey on this subject of physicians and practice administrators. Physicians reported spending three hours weekly interacting with plans; nursing and clerical staff spent much larger amounts of time. When time is converted to dollars, we estimate that the national time cost to practices of interactions with plans is at least $23 billion to $31 billion each year.
authors.affiliation: Division of Outcomes and Effectiveness Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, NY, USA. lac2021@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Lawrence P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Casalino
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicholson
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Gans
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hammons
authors.forename: Dante
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morra
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Karrison
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Levinson
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010820:Physicians / Q000191:economics; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States