Dan Gottry - Blog

Dan Gottry's Blog

Monday, September 11, 2006

Linkia May Have to Swallow Promises

[The following is a response to questions posted to the O/P Community]

I must say I was rather impressed with most of the responses to a rather naive and somewhat inflammatory statement made by Smithson. To attempt to imply that a socialistic model is "obviously" superior to our current system at best illustrates a lack of understanding about O and P in the U.S., and is evidence of her remarkable lack of insight into the Linkia effort, and its intentions.

My guess is that Linkia will ultimately have to swallow many of its promises of improved outcomes over the independents, reexamine its discounting policies if it is to remain a viable entity, and prepare for a renegotiation with Cigna as patients fight back. In the past, patients simply did not have as great a forum as they do now, so it is understandable that many of you clinicians feel they may not have much of a collective voice. To a certain extent this is true, but after all the togetherness I've seen on the various listservs among these individuals over the last few years, their power is growing.

Concentrate on systems designed to document outcomes (outcomes measurement is our Achilles heel and your biggest competitor knows it), ensure you have superior results, and hold the line like many of you have already done when you are asked to lose money in order to maintain a contract. Talk to your patients, ask them if they network among their own and give them some links to existing listservs that will allow them to gain motivation and strength from others in their situation. They are bound to have friends that are insured through Cigna. Get the ball rolling by urging them to contact Cigna supervisors to state their objections and there should be some light at the end of the tunnel.

Randy

Randall D. Alley, BSc, CP, CFT, FAAOP

posted by Daniel Gottry at 5:07 PM