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Replaces paper records with Electronic Medical Records (EMRs).
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Allows patients to enter their Registration and Medical History information through P2P website.
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Patient information (entered only once) is stored at P2P Central Facility.
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The central patient database is shared by all authorized P2P HC organizations.
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The patient data is automatically transferred from the central facility to the P2P HC service provider’s Computer when requested.
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Authorized P2P members can access central patient database in real-time from anywhere in the world.
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Third Party Payment Related Problems
The third party (insurance companies) payment system has its merits, but it also has a number of drawbacks with the present business model utilized in the U.S. The present system, designed about 60 years ago, has made the HC industry an insurance-employer driven industry rather than a market driven industry. The patient (customer) does not have the power to chose his own healthcare services, and the physician (service provider) also has no authority to determine the prices for his services.
The employer of the patient negotiates a deal with the insurance company to select health insurance policies for its employees. Obviously, the employer looks for its own interest first, and selects the policies that are most cost effective for the employer. Since the patient (employee) does not get involved directly in the selection process, his interest is generally overlooked. Unlike a customer who has the freedom to evaluate and select a product of his choice, the patient choices are restricted.
On other side of the fence, an insurance company solely makes the decision regarding how much to pay for each medical procedure to the physician for his services. The individual physician gets no opportunity to negotiate the price with the insurance company for his services. The physician is required to sign a blanket contract, which states that he will accept whatever amount insurance company will pay him. After the physician signs the contract, the insurance companies have the authority to change the payment amounts any time. During last decade, the payment amounts have decreased steadily. While all workers in other industries get a salary-raise every year, the physicians get a salary-cut every year. This trend is continuing with no end in sight.
Another major flaw in the system currently used in the U.S. is that all physicians receive the same amount of payment for performing a medical procedure irrespective of their level of experience. A fresh graduate from medical school starts his new practice, and gets paid exactly the same amount for performing a surgery as a physician with 40 years of experience. There is no provision in the payment system of insurance companies in the U.S. to compensate a physician for his years of experience.
The roots of these problems originate from the US federal government agency – Medicare, which provides medical insurance to elderly population. Every year, the federal budget gets cut, which results in payment reduction to the physicians and other HC service providers. To make the things worse, by law, the physician cannot ask the patient to pay and makeup for the reduced payment. Since Medicare dictates its terms to the physicians, other private insurance companies follow the footsteps of Medicare, and also cut the payments every year.
The reduction in payments to physicians (by Medicare, Medicaid and all other insurance companies), and lack of compensation for physician’s experience level translates into lower quality of services to the patients. Unfortunately, majority of patients are not even aware of these problems. Since the insurance companies increase their insurance premium every year, they expect higher quality service from the physicians. This environment results in a poor physician-patient relationship.
Legal System Related Problems
The biggest legal flaw in the US healthcare industry is lack of having a cap on mal-practice lawsuits, and a cap on the percentage (of pay-out) given to the attorney representing the patient. A patient can sue a physician/HC provider for almost unlimited amount even for minor issues. Since most litigation attorneys work on contingency basis, and they can keep almost the entire amount (paid by the insurance company) if the patient wins, they have strong incentive to file a lawsuit for extremely high amounts. This flaw alone has resulted in ever increasing malpractice insurance premiums of physicians.