Govt. Wants 'Mystery Shoppers' to Probe Docs About the Ease in Getting an Appointment

Some research has found that as many as 60 million Americans can't get primary care physicians, the federal government wants to use 'Mystery Shoppers' to investigate if primary care physicians are rejecting new patients depending on insurance type they have. Staff from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation will call 4,185 primary care physicians in nine states. They are considering to act as a perspective new patient to get feedback on whether they are accepted and how long it takes to get an appointment. The cost of the first survey is projected to be around$350,000. The American Medical Association is strongly against the government's proposal. They acknowledged that some physicians do try to turn away Medicaid patients, but the government should be working to address the shortage of primary care physicians so as to make the access to health care higher, rather than using 'mystery shoppers' to tell them what they already know.

Source:ABC NEWS
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