December 2001

Volume 3 Issue 2

AMA Seeks Physician Complaints About Managed Care Physicians will now have an opportunity to direct their complaints about managed care to a central repository at the AMA. Developed by the AMA Private Sector Advocacy group, the online complaint form will allow physicians to confidentially provide sophisticated data relating to the day-to-day administrative "hassles" of managed care. The AMA hopes that the Health Complaint Form will allow physicians to relate their frustrations in dealing with managed care in a way that will allow the collected data to be used to identify trends, facilitate discussions with national health insurers, and promote the AMA's legislative and regulatory agenda. In a November 26th press release, AMA Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Donald J. Palmisano explained that the complaint form is an extension of previous efforts by the AMA to collect patient anecdotes related to problems with managed care but now in a way that is expected to provide more concrete evidence of the problems physicians face in providing care to patients under managed care plans. For more information visit the AMA Web site. The press release can be found at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/article/1616-5579.html. The complaint form can be accessed through the Private Sector Advocacy page at www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/2387.html.