Derms Terminated From Insurance Plans

While one of the goals of President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is to increase accessibility to medical care for Americans who are uninsured and have no healthcare coverage, insured Americans who have been contributing to their insurance plans for years are finding that their plans have been pared down by their insurance companies.
As a result, patients with Medicare Advantage in particular have dwindling options when it comes to choosing a physician. A vast number of physicians, including specialized dermatologists, have been informed that they are being terminated from these plans even though many of them have long-standing relationships with patients who purchased Medicare Advantage plans.
“Carriers in the Medicare Advantage Space are pruning their network, and, in essence, they are looking at costs,” says Brent Moody, M.D., a Mohs surgeon with Heritage Medical Associates in Nashville, Tenn., chairman of the public policy committee for the American College of Mohs Surgery, and member of the healthcare finance committee for the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD).
“They are eliminating who they perceive are the most expensive physicians. In many cases, it is Mohs surgeons (who are being terminated).”
Read more at Dermatology Times.