To view the report in PDF format, you first need to download the free Adobe Acrobat Viewer. The Acrobat Viewer will launch the file so that
you can see the document on your monitor and then print it. Download
Adobe Acrobat.
Download the Report
|
|
July 13, 2007
 New York State Attorney General Letter to UnitedHealthcare Regarding
Physician Rankings
The
New York State Attorney Generals office asked UnitedHealthcare to
refrain from introducing its Premium designation program in the state
that
ranks physicians by cost and quality. The letter said that if UnitedHealthcare continues with its plans to release the rankings, the
Attorney General's office is prepared to take legal action.
The letter cites concerns about how the rankings would be generated and
how consumers might use the data. The concerns included the following:
-
Faulty quality data gathering, due to self-reporting or simplistic
criteria may create unreliable quality and cost information.
-
UnitedHealthcare may use claims data to define quality of care, rather
than reviewing information on medical records or charts.
-
Frequency of ranking updates for consumers and feedback on rankings to
physicians.
-
Consumers may choose a physician solely on cost data.
-
UnitedHealthcare may assign high-cost physicians lower quality rankings
if a quality-to-cost ratio is part of the overall ranking, which could
mislead consumers about the quality of care provided by the physician.
|
OPEN MINDS