Excerpts from Medscape. Where are the referrals going? The growing trend of hospitals hiring their own doctors is causing referrals to independents to dry up. Hospital-employed physicians are often asked to refer patients to in-house... Read More
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Hospitals do not have to overtly direct their PCPs, according Dr. Lester, the Orlando-area radiation oncologist. Even if it is not stated in the physician’s contract — and it usually is not — “it’s understood that you’ll refer in-house,” he said. If employed physicians allow too much “leakage” of referrals, the hospitals might not renew their contract, which usually lasts only 1-3 years, he added.
In addition, hospitals use “physician liaisons” to check employed physicians’ referral patterns and have a word with the “splitters,” those who refer too many patients outside. “Part of the physician liaison’s job is to maintain complete loyalty to the system,” she said. Electronic health record (EHR) systems make it easy to profile physicians and track their referrals.
I've been on the ass-end of this. I've had former hospital employed MD's contact me after they've left the health system and say, "I'm sorry. We were being watched and were told that there was a "cap" on how many outside system referrals we could make." Even thought they all felt guilty and used, it doesn't stop it from happening all over again at the next place.