Nov 8 2006
Reductions in insurance companies' physician reimbursement rates could lead many Nevada physicians to leave the state amid a physician shortage, according to Bill Pierce, president of the Nevada Association of Family Physicians, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports.
Pierce said the reimbursement system is challenging for physicians because each of the state's 150 private insurers reimburses physicians differently based on separately negotiated contracts. Pierce said some reimbursement rules also might make it more profitable to delay treatment.
Florence Jameson, president of the Clark County Medical Society, said many doctors have to join groups and share administrative costs because of low reimbursements.
Pierce said he plans to establish a program tentatively called "Your MD" that would eliminate patients' need for private insurance by offering catastrophic coverage and charging patients $2,000 annually for up to 10 office visits, annual lab work and a nutritional assessment (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 11/6).
 This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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