Doctors Know Little About Consumer-Directed Health Plans

By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, October 7, 2008; 6:00 PM

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TUESDAY, Oct. 7 (HealthDay News) -- Few doctors are adequately prepared to help patients navigate newer, so-called "consumer-directed" health plans, a new survey finds.

The plans, which are meant to shift more responsibility for health care decisions to the individual patient, often come with high deductibles and include a health savings account.

But 43 percent of doctors said they have heard little, if anything, about these plans, and less than half (48 percent) feel ready to discuss medical budgeting with their patients.

"I think as these plans roll out, it's really important to educate doctors about (them) and about some of the differences between these plans and more traditional models of insurance," said study co-author Dr. Craig Pollack, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The study highlights doctors' nebulous role in counseling patients on financial matters.

"I don't think it's at all clear in insurers' minds what role they want doctors to play, and I don't think physicians themselves are clear on what they're comfortable with," said Dr. Hoangmai H. Pham, a senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C..

Nor do patients know what role they want their doctors to play, she added. "It's frankly very uncomfortable for both patients and physicians to talk about money in any clinical context."

Peter V. Lee, executive director for national health policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health and co-chair of the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project, said the study raises issues that go well beyond consumer-directed health plans.

"Patients under virtually every plan are seeing huge financial implications of their choices," he said, "and historically doctors have felt they didn't need to talk money."

An estimated 5.5 million Americans are enrolled in consumer-directed health plans, according to the 2008 Employer Benefits Survey, an annual report released last month by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.