The Middleman in Medicine

Patients and Providers United is committed to protecting the voices of physicians, patients and caregivers in medical decision making. Physicians prescribe specific procedures, drug regimens and courses of treatment based on the unique characteristics, genetics and health history of individuals. Patients should have timely access to the therapies that they determine with their physician will best treat their ailment.

In her experience, oncologist and breast cancer specialist, Dr. Debra Patt, finds that when a patient’s insurance company questions the medical judgment of a treating physician it can “extend time to treatment, interfere with clinic workflow, add to patient inconvenience and lead to treatment abandonment and adverse outcomes.” In Insurance Companies Have No Place Practicing Medicine, Dr. Patt expresses that step therapy policies compromise the delivery of evidence-based patient care.

Patients lose when their physician’s medical expertise encounters rigid, unworkable, cost-containment benchmarks of an insurance plan. Step therapy policies that are aligned to deny care, rather than facilitate it, place at risk crucial medical protocols and jeopardize the delivery of high-quality care. Join with Patients and Providers United to keep patients and providers, not middlemen, at the center of medical decision making.