Health Insurers Owning Hospital Consultants, Physician Groups: Conflict of Interest?

As healthcare insurers diversify and buy traditional business adversaries such as hospital consultants and physicians groups, serious independence and patient confidentiality concerns arise, according to a Kaiser Health News report.

The report cites United Healthcare's acquisition of Executive Health Resources, a hospital consultant that helps hospitals claim money from insurers and the government. Banner Health, a Phoenix-based health system that hired the consultant, is concerned about whether the EHR is really independent from its parent company, United. The Minnetonka, Minn.-based health insurance giant insists it allows Executive Health Resources to maintain its independence; more than 2,000 hospitals contract the company to ensure they receive fair compensation.

Another concern discussed in the Kaiser article is the emergence of big insurers such as Aetna, United and Blue Cross Blue Shield buying up physician networks. While those acquisitions allow physicians and hospitals to share patient information electronically, other insurers claim physicians in those networks favor, or in some cases exclusively treat, patients covered by the physician's parent insurance company.

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