United Healhcare and ethics (re: Alliant Dermatology)
 

From UHC's website:
About UnitedHealth Group - Ethics & Integrity
UnitedHealth Group is committed to the highest standards of integrity.
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Talk is cheap easy. When I enquired about the coming termination of Alliant Dermatology's contract, I received a terse form letter that said absolutely nothing.

Somehow, UHC tends to lose sight of the consumer.
I'd really like someone from UHC to prove me wrong with facts about this specific case. An open challenge. We need good medical providers in this community.

Thank you for starting this thread. UHC is concerned about $. In this aging demographic, skin cancer is much more common when compared with the incidence in the general population. Surgeries are expensive. Unfortunately, skin cancer = surgery most of the time.

Yes, there may be 40 other dermatologists on the list. Not a valid argument. Do your research. I found one whose credentials I liked but he is not taking new patients.

The Villages population is now over 120,000 and growing rapidly. Does anyone think a new dermatology practice would open here after seeing Alliant’s fate?

For those who never need a dermatologist, you may think it’s no big deal.

What expensive specialty is next?

Only Casper knows why 39 other Dermatologists are chosen and he was dropped. ALL of your conclusions are simply speculative, including unless you are a medical professional, the need for surgeries because we are older. We also tend to be more gullible as we age. As a patient for many years, Casper still has not told me why he was rejected. I find that to be irresponsible. A letter on his website has zero details. It is a PR game and a lot of “gullible’ people fell for it. How can anyone support a doctor who will not tell you why he was rejected from your insurer?
I spend most of my time in NY and go to a Dermatologist there for 30 years. The number of surgeries I had in The Villages both with TRAN and CASPER ...at least a dozen...greatly outweigh the number of surgeries I had in NY with two different Dermatologists. You can draw your own conclusions. I made mine. Tran and Casper made my decision easier since they are no longer in my Plan. I have at least 25 other doctors in NY to choose from and close to 40 in the Villages region in my Plan. Plenty of choices. To say that UHC is the culprit whenthey give me 65 other doctors to choose from is quite a stretch.

Skin cancers in elderly patients. - PubMed - NCBI

Just one of many sources.

Just out of curiosity, Casper is still listed on the UH website as a provider. We know he's not. How do we know if any of the other dermatologists listed haven't been dropped too? Was Casper's practice the only one?

Alliant is terminated effective September 1. No knowledge about any others.

Our own personal experience with Alliant is that they haven't pushed anything on us in the several years we have gone there. I had one spot frozen and biopsied (result benign), and my husband had a mole removed from the side of his face at his request. That's it. We both have rough spots here and there that we've worried about, and a couple of other things, and the assistants have always said nothing is suspicious looking. I really would have never thought they were over-pushing surgery.

I hope he doesn't have to close up shop over this. (We have supplemental plans and will still go there.)

The reason is because the sun don’t shine that much in New York!!!

Health-care is changing ALL over the country. Mayo has bought up small hospitals in the upper midwest and now are pulling "some" services and consolidating them. It's a hardship in those communities that are losing services and now will have to travel many/many miles. The aging population there are particularily in a conundrum because of not driving distance or driving at all anymore. There's more to it then I'm telling but---it's just something we need to be aware of. We constantly NEED to self-advocate as well, which becomes harder as we age.

I think you are right...…….and a little bit wrong. It may be the right answer, but staying afloat and keeping a profit margin is not sinful.

There Today
 

We have been patients of Dr. Casper from the time he opened his practice here. My husband had a surgery for a squamous cell carcinoma utilizing the MOHS procedure today. He had originally been scheduled for excising the lesion, but it was so large that by going the MOHS route, no skin grafting was required.

Although, it does not apply to us, we were given the notice of the UHC decision when we arrived. He wants all of his patients to be aware of what is happening. He is taking steps to appeal and reverse their decision.

I have my own ideas of why UHC and AARP Advantage are dropping Alliant, and as someone else pointed out, who knows how many others are next. We encountered this same thing prior to our retirement with the company insurance we had. It was an HMO and we suddenly lost our doctor. We had been forced into FirstCare with no choice. Our previous doctor was not a member, so we had to change. When our FirstCare doctor had to drop us (on orders from FirstCare), our previous doctor had signed on since a large percentage of his practice was from our plant. Forthunately, he knew how to deal with them. There is much more to this story, but you can probably get the picture. PM me if you want more details.

I know there are many here who really like their system, but I decided early on that it was not for us, nor would it ever be. Hopefully, that will never change. We have a Humana PPO Advantage Plan and are totally pleased with it.

The Villages Health has hired its own dermatologist. They are redirecting business to reduce its loses.

Yes. He has stellar credentials. He is now on their website. He is part-time and is taking no new patients (even though he just recently arrived). He is in process of recruiting derm providers who will populate TVH Specialty facility. How do I know this? I called TVH Specialty and they told me this.

The new team, of course, will accept UHC.

Draw your own conclusions.

I don't believe the reason given because you don't need a UHC advantage plan to see a TVH specialist. My wife sees a TVH rheumatologist and she has original Medicare.

I think David Casper and his practice will be o.k. It is his well educated skill and gentleness and polite and caring manner coupled with a lot of hard work that has earned him this very rapid success here, now having Three locations in less than seven years. That will not change and everyone who consults with him will continue saying the honest good things they have said and he will be continue to successfully maintain his practice. I feel sad for the people who do not have the insurance that covers his practice. In this day and age that happens much more than it used to. I somehow believe that NO ONE did anything wrong. But I still don't understand.

Of course you don’t. That’s common knowledge. But the doctor needs to be participating in UHC. Alliant is being terminated from participating in UHC.

Yep.


Common sense dictates, that dermatologists anywhere where the sun is more brutal/prevalent...would have a LOT more experience with skin cancer.

It is CONFUSING. United Health Care is a large, national insurance company like Humana and Aetna.

United Health Care is ALSO another entity here in The Villages that is tied to The Villages Health Care system that I believe to be a good idea, but one that only some can participate in because of ?????? I still don't understand.

I think that the health care system was initiated by the Morse family because dependable health care was not abundant here in this area. They are going to make money for sure and fill a need and I think they do very well judging from the responses of many friends who belong to The Villages Health Care System.

We use physicians who practice here independently and have found many that fit our needs. We have a primary care physician, a gastroenterologist, an ear nose and throat doctor, a dermatologist (Dr. Casper) an endocrinologist, a cardiologist, a dental surgeon, and an orthopedic doctor. We are covered by the insurance from the long years my husband was employed by a large company, with more co-pay than before but that is today's world.

I hope so and wish we could keep him as our dermo. But I was there Thursday and was told that half of his patients were affected by UHC dropping Alliant.

The doctor's office staff will usually verify insurance before setting an appointment for a new patient, but I always ask if they forget. My UHC agent even told me not to trust the online provider guide.

When I enrolled in Medicare and chose UHC, I wanted to keep seeing my longtime GP and not use The Villages Health doctors. Perhaps that's why I was put on the UHC Wellmed plan, which is not accepted by many specialists outside TV Health. Those same offices do accept The Villages Health, just not Wellmed.

We had the Preferred Partners ins. that preceeded TVH system. I had a dermatologist that got dropped from that ins. as well as our dentist. Things change constantly with health-care. Is it fair? Mostly, not!! We're living in a different world today where Ins., health-care etc. are intertwined and they're all about making $$$$$$$. It's not about "care" anymore. It's NOT the developer, it's NOT Dr. Casper but most likely the ins. company.

IMO Probably kick back problem. Insurance is legal racketeering. You would think if you have insurance anyplace should have accept it. That the first thing that our worthless politicians should of fixed, but had to pass it to see what's in it! One of the dumbest statements made by politician in my life time. the lobbyists won again. IMO It's all about money! Health care has nothing to do with it.

Talk about kickbacks ? How bout the lack of B&M beans in our supermarkets. All you see are shelves and shelves of Bush’s baked beans. I’m so sick of this corruption.


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Agree! UHC’s M/A business model is based on low cost providers versus high quality care. This money-centered care model was introduced and then they abandoned their loyal patients with original Medicare insurance. We were led to believe we were “grandfathered” as patients. Instead, their lack of business ethics were on display for the very start.

We were referred by our PCP to TVSpecialtyCare Dermatogist -- the wait was 4 months - Alliant Dermatology fit us in within one week. If the UHC-Villages partnership under Medicare Advantage terms is not profitable enough for both UH and the developer, making us wait four months for healthcare doesn't seem to be much of a help.

:1rotfl:

What's The Problem
 

What is the problem. You can drive to Mayo Clinic and it will take you 2 1/2 hours. While there you will have your appointment WHEN IT IS SCHEDULED AND ON TIME. You have options you can go to a Village Doctor and wait an hour or so for your appointment and be examined by a Dr. who you have not had the ability to understand how good he or she is and is not under regular review by Dept Heads. Who said there are no options.?:shrug:

How do you define a Village Doctor. Using the doctors in TV health system has never required a wait. Using specialists outside the system always requires a wait but they are, I guess, a Villages doctor. Using a specialist at the Villages Specialty Center has never required a wait. Driving 2.5 hours for an appointment seems a bit much but as stated, there are options.

Don't know who all have been dropped, but in discussing this with Dr. Casper today it is clear that the drop is for those that have the UH Villages HMO. I have a UH Supplement Plan F and am not affected.

BTW Casper is a great doctor.

As far as UHC is concerned, we are very fortunate to have such a competent health care system available here in The Villages. Everyone still has a choice to purchase whatever form of healthcare they want. If a person loses they're Doctor for whatever reason they have to find another, simple as that. Overall, the price I pay for healthcare from The Villages healthcare UHC and the visits and procedure costs to me are very inexpensive as costs go.

And a very friendly ghost.

The rainmaker for surgeries is his Lab. Do you know anything about his Lab? Not his dog but the Lab he sends your biopsies to.

Did he tell you why he was dropped?

I called Alliant office today and confirmed that AARP UHC SUPPLEMENTAL insurances plans are still accepted, the problems are with the UHC ADVANTAGE plans. This is not news, we have experienced this several times around 3 years ago when we tried an ADVANTAGE plan. We had so much trouble, we went back to Medicare and supplemental plans.

Jack, could you elaborate a bit on the lab? I asked a question once about biopsies and got what I thought was a vague response and just let it go. Not saying anything negative but I am curious.

Could you shed some more light on this crucial issue ?