This paper consisting of 4 pages is based on a student supplied case study of a doctor who profits by over-treating his patients. There are 3 bibliographic sources cited.
Name of Research Paper File: RT13_SA309frd.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
telling the patient, doctors may join a slew of HMOs and treat all of the patients in a rushed manner. The office gets a set amount of money for treating
patients and it is not in their best interests to pursue symptoms as that will cost the offices precious time. They make more money with this rushed manner of treatment
but the end result is negligence. The other type of charges stem from excessive care. Doctors may recommend operations in order to collect fees. After all, surgeons get paid a
great deal of money for operations and they will be more inclined to recommend surgery. Some doctors fraudulently recommend unnecessary operations to profit, and some just tend towards it but
do not mean any harm. Other types of unscrupulous behavior in doctors offices around the nation include attempts to bilk Medicare out of dollars, and to some extent this is
accomplished not by ignoring patients--as some do who belong to HMOs--but rather by over treating. This too may amount to fraud. However, there is a fine line between fraud and
bending the rules a little bit. How can one tell if in fact something is amiss? When are physicians and their offices responsible for their actions of over or under
treating patients, and when can one say that the fine line is too sketchy? A case study may help to examine this very important issue. In a case
study submitted by a student, a student is placed with a Dr. Smoothe for training. Dr. Smoothe asks the individual to evaluate office procedure and so forth and the
student notices that this doctor, who sees a lot of poor, Medicaid patients regularly performs more laboratory tests, procedures, and requests more follow-up on Medicaid patients than appear to be