Take our money, the company said, and together we can bring about a future where primary care leads. A future where doctors can take better care of their patients, and reap the financial rewards of improved health. We’ll handle the business side while you look after your patients.
Instead, almost 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, the primary care network is a shell of its former self. Doctors are retiring earlier than they planned, or leaving for competing practices. Patients with serious medical conditions struggle to make appointments, while others complain of mysterious diagnoses popping up in their charts. Disillusioned, many patients are leaving.
“People cannot get the care that they need,” said Sharon Maloney, a ProHealth patient whose husband couldn’t get into his doctor’s office for three days, precipitating a chain of events that led to his death. “They’re basically pushing out the people that need more expensive care.”
“At the time, I had swallowed the Optum message hook, line, and sinker,” Hirsch said. “Primary care was going to have some control over the delivery of health care, and finally be in a position to lead.”
Soon enough, Optum’s control crept into the ways the doctors practiced medicine. The real sea change was in 2018, when the company took over physicians’ schedules. They could no longer control which patients they saw, when they saw them, or how long their appointments would be.
They were forced to squeeze what had previously been a 45- to 60-minute physical into 30 minutes. And because Optum worked to make sure most of the day was booked with revenue-generating physicals and check-ups for patients with chronic conditions, the doctors had little time to see patients with acute illnesses.
www.statnews.com
Instead, almost 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, the primary care network is a shell of its former self. Doctors are retiring earlier than they planned, or leaving for competing practices. Patients with serious medical conditions struggle to make appointments, while others complain of mysterious diagnoses popping up in their charts. Disillusioned, many patients are leaving.
“People cannot get the care that they need,” said Sharon Maloney, a ProHealth patient whose husband couldn’t get into his doctor’s office for three days, precipitating a chain of events that led to his death. “They’re basically pushing out the people that need more expensive care.”
“At the time, I had swallowed the Optum message hook, line, and sinker,” Hirsch said. “Primary care was going to have some control over the delivery of health care, and finally be in a position to lead.”
Soon enough, Optum’s control crept into the ways the doctors practiced medicine. The real sea change was in 2018, when the company took over physicians’ schedules. They could no longer control which patients they saw, when they saw them, or how long their appointments would be.
They were forced to squeeze what had previously been a 45- to 60-minute physical into 30 minutes. And because Optum worked to make sure most of the day was booked with revenue-generating physicals and check-ups for patients with chronic conditions, the doctors had little time to see patients with acute illnesses.
UnitedHealth pledged a hands-off approach after buying a Connecticut medical group. Then it upended how doctors practice
Almost 10 years after UnitedHealth bought ProHealth Physicians, former doctors say the primary care network is a shell of its former self.
www.statnews.com
