(Image Source: Los Angeles Times)

BY EMILY GIFFIN

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

The federal government is about to go under cover- and it’s America’s doctors who might need to remain alert. The New York Times reports the federal government is creating a team to pose as patients and question doctor’s offices about their ability to provide care.

The administration says the survey will be done to address the increasing shortage of primary care doctors- an issue it calls a “critical public policy problem.” The government snooping will also investigate whether doctors are accepting privately insured patients while denying those in government health programs, like Medicaid, which pay lower reimbursement rates.
(Video: WPIX-TV)

A federal contractor will place calls to 465 doctors in each of the nine states involved in the “stealth survey.” The New York Times relays just how the survey will play out.

“…the mystery shoppers will call medical practices and ask if doctors are accepting new patients and, if so, how long the wait would be. The government is eager to know whether doctors give different answers to callers depending on whether they have public insurance, like Medicaid, or private insurance, like Blue Cross and Blue Shield.”

No matter the nature of the call, the pretend patients will block their caller ID information from the doctor’s office. A federal official tells the Times the data would be kept confidential, but doctors still aren’t on board with the spying. Dr. Marc Siegel offered his opinion on Fox News.

“And what’s really creepy, Martha, is after they call you anonymously, about 17 percent call back and say we are with the government and they look to see if they get the same answers. And I got to tell you, there may be a day when I don’t see a Medicare patient; that day I might be full. Another day, I might see that patient. There’s no way this is going to be accurate. There’s no way they can really show anything accurate by doing this, except making us more upset”

A Forbes blogger writes about the effect he thinks the federal survey will have on doctors.

“…more and more of them will drop out of Medicaid, and increasingly Medicare, rather than subject themselves to the onerous hassles and financial burdens of staying involved … Doctors will avoid setting up shop in inner cities, where a higher proportion of patients are in these programs. In turn, access to care for those patients will get worse, not better, in a system that is already a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Despite criticism from doctors, the administration is standing by its plan. POLITICO reports what a Health and Human Services spokesman had to say about the survey.

“’Access to primary care is a priority for the administration…‘This study is an effort to better understand the problem and make sure we are doing everything we can to support primary care physicians, especially in communities where the need is greatest.’”

The plan still needs final approval from the White House, but calls are set to begin in a few months. Preliminary results from the survey are expected next spring.