HCFO Grantee Findings highlighted in AAFP News Now Article on Physicians Contracting with Health Plans

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Findings from a HCFO study led by Lawrence P. Casalino, M.D., Ph.D., formerly of the University of Chicago and currently at Weill Cornell Medical College, were highlighted in the June 2, 2009 AAFP News Now article, “Physicians Pay Steep Price to Contract with Health Plans.” The researchers conducted a national survey of physician practices across the United States on time spent by practice staff on administrative activities. The researchers state, “Our estimated mean $31 billion cost to physician practices of time spent on interactions with health plans is equal to 6.9 percent of all U.S. expenditures for physician and clinical services. It is six times the amount the federal government has spent annually on the Children's Health Insurance Program.”