Healthcare: The Physician Gate Keeper

Some would argue “gate keeping” is an unethical because it leaves room for introducing financial gains from the ones managing care and ordering treatment. The risk of greed and corruption of a physician or healthcare organization to benefit them not the patient are potentially high when the promise of more money from introducing a certain surgical procedures or other medical treatments with higher yields instead of medicine or a less costly treatment option are presented to patients and their families. For most individuals seeking treatment this can be a highly stressful time. Decisions sometimes have to be made in a rushed manor leaving patients subjected to making quick decisions and being potentially taken advantage of with unnecessary costs and risks.

According to the Webster dictionary the medical definition of “gatekeeper” is, “a healthcare professional (as a primary care physician) who regulates access especially to hospitals and specialists, manage care plans rely on a designated physician gatekeeper to orchestrate and control the health care of its enrollees” (Gatekeeper, 2013).

Physicians must simply state the options, risks and potential outcomes for each track. When all information is provided let the patient and family decided for his or her own care. Sultz and Young marked of a managed care repercussion that began in the late 1990s “Health care providers and consumers railed against managed care organizations policies on choice of providers, referrals, and other practices that were viewed as unduly restrictive”(Sultz and Young, 2011) In other words, manage care organizations were making decisions to withhold less expensive treatment options and presenting a more costly treat...

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...in the first place. More state run home care agency’s can help older American citizens stay in the family home as well as keep costs down. This will ensure families stay together offering desirable care for the patient but also providing support for families and for the community it serves.

Works Cited

Gatekeeper. (2013). In Merriam Webster. Retrieved January 25, 2014, from www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gatekeeper

Mullin, E. (2013, February 26). How to Pay for Nursing Home Costs. Retrieved January 26, 2013, from www.health.usanews.com/health-news/bestnursing-home

Sultz, H. A., & Young, K. M. (2011). Health care USA: Understanding its organization and delivery (7th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Your Medicare Costs. (n.d.). Retrieved January 28, 2014, from

http://www.webmd.com/health/insurance/insurance-costs/medicare-costs.