BETHESDA, Md., June 19 (UPI) -- Blue Cross of California's plan to penalize doctors for doing outpatient endoscopies hurts patients, a group said Monday.
The American Gastroenterological Association issued a statement Monday charging the insurer's pending new policy on performing outpatient endoscopies "will hinder the medical judgment of physicians as to the proper setting for endoscopic procedures, based on the specific needs of individual patients."
According to the medical group, Blue Cross of California, starting July 1, will financially penalize doctors who opt to perform endoscopic procedures in an outpatient hospital setting.
"By providing financial disincentives to physicians who perform endoscopic procedures in a hospital outpatient setting, the policy subverts the physician's ability to make decisions of medical necessity or for reasons of safety when a patient with significant other medical problems should have their endoscopic procedure in a hospital outpatient setting," the AGA said, adding, "If the policy is implemented, California physicians will be penalized for making clinical judgments for the sake of achieving cost savings for the insurer and their shareholders."
Doctors currently have a choice of three different settings to perform endoscopy: a doctor's office, an ambulatory endoscopy center or in a hospital endoscopy unit, the AGA noted.
