No Managed Care

“Now I see that, at least for primary care physicians, managed care is incompatible with good care.” ~ Dr. Margit M. Winstrom

Breaking From Managed Care . . .

Dr. Winstrom explains her reasons for breaking away from managed care.

The current insurance chaos is rapidly eroding the quality of health care in America and our patients are being ill-served. I believe we physicians are contributing to the problem as long as we continue to accept these contracts.

At first I thought that if I just got smarter and faster I could make the practice work while continuing to accept insurance. Now I see that, at least for primary care physicians, managed care is incompatible with good care. We have to see too many patients per day to do a good job. We have to spend more time fussing with the chart than listening to the patient and we have to hire more staff to process and reprocess claims than we can decently pay.

Inevitably, the focus becomes more “What do we have to do to get paid for seeing this patient?" than "How can we best serve this person?” The joy and value of long term relationships has been sacrificed to the employers' pursuit of the lowest cost benefits.

Everyone is disgruntled; no one's needs are being met. I think the system is terminally ill.
My prescription:

1. Doctors must bite the bullet and refuse to accept these contracts.
2. Patients must take their insurance and health care decisions out of the employers' hands and shop the deal for themselves. They should request medical savings accounts and then look for deals like our “Year of care Package”

We started our practice in 1970 and have been providing tender loving care to West Houston and Rice Village families for over 30 years. Our services cover the broad spectrum of a family's medical needs, including women's health care and now the world of acupuncture and herbal medicine are also available from Dr. You and his wife Dr. Tao Ma.