Health Affairs
July 2016
Secret Shoppers Find Access To Providers And Network Accuracy Lacking For Those In Marketplace And Commercial Plans
By Simon F. Haeder, David L. Weimer and Dana B. Mukamel
Abstract
The adequacy of provider networks for plans sold through insurance Marketplaces established under the Affordable Care Act has received much scrutiny recently. Various studies have established that networks are generally narrow. To learn more about network adequacy and access to care, we investigated two questions. First, no matter the nominal size of a network, can patients gain access to primary care services from providers of their choice in a timely manner? Second, how does access compare to plans sold outside insurance Marketplaces? We conducted a "secret shopper" survey of 743 primary care providers from five of California's nineteen insurance Marketplace pricing regions in the summer of 2015. Our findings indicate that obtaining access to primary care providers was generally equally challenging both inside and outside insurance Marketplaces. In less than 30 percent of cases were consumers able to schedule an appointment with an initially selected physician provider. Information about provider networks was often inaccurate. Problems accessing services for patients with acute conditions were particularly troubling. Effectively addressing issues of network adequacy requires more accurate provider information.
From the Discussion
Two patterns emerged from our survey. First, and most striking, new patients in either Covered California or the comparable commercial plan had very low prospects—less than 30 percent—of securing an appointment with any randomly chosen provider. The odds got only slightly better in terms of getting an appointment with any provider in the practice. The results were particularly disheartening in the case of patients presenting with acute conditions. Although the average wait time was reduced by about half when compared to physical exams, it nonetheless took eight to twelve days to get an appointment with a physician or physician extender. Moreover, only a handful of providers suggested that patients seek care at an urgent care center. These findings suggest that the third step in health care access, scheduling an appointment with a physician, has much room for improvement. At least accurate lists of providers, including whether the provider is accepting new patients, should be available for patients when they make choices about health plans.
Second, patients in commercial plans tended to fare somewhat better than their counterparts in Covered California plans, in terms of both getting appointments and the time to appointment. However, not only were these differences relatively small and often statistically insignificant, they were dwarfed by the overall difficulty of getting appointments with the desired provider. So, although it was marginally more difficult to get timely care in Covered California plans than their commercial counterparts, substantially increasing access requires more than just equalizing access in the two types of insurance coverage.
Conclusion
Improving access to care by improving access to affordable health insurance is one of the main goals of the Affordable Care Act. However, as our analysis has shown, access to health insurance is not necessarily synonymous with access to health care services. Network accuracy is an important, albeit heretofore largely overlooked, component of access for patients. At the same time, as earlier reforms in Massachusetts have shown, increasing the number of insured people without a commensurate increase in capacity further exacerbates the situation. The more frustrated people become as they are trying to access care, the more likely they are to defer or forgo care, or to choose more expensive options such as emergency departments.
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Comment by Don McCanne
Covered California is one of the best functioning health insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), yet 70 percent of patients enrolled were not able to schedule an appointment with an initially selected physician from the provider list. This was not a problem unique to the ACA exchanges since the same was essentially true for individual insurance plans offered outside of the exchanges.
The fundamental defect is in having selected a health care financing system dependent on private insurance plans. Private plans use innovations such as narrow provider networks and high deductibles which improve the business outcome for the insurer at a cost of impairing health care access for the patient.
It is obvious that we would all benefit by replacing our current dysfunctional health care financing system with a single payer national health program - an Improved Medicare for All. Yet the political outlook seems quite dim right now. The leading advocate for single payer reform, Bernie Sanders, having failed to gain enough support for the Democratic nomination for president, is currently in negotiations with Hillary Clinton, an avowed opponent of single payer, in which he will withdraw his demand for Medicare for All in exchange for other beneficial health care policies such as the expansion of federally qualified community health centers.
We have a formidable task before us. The majority of the nation does want Medicare to be expanded to cover everyone, yet the two dominant political parties are controlled by conservatives and neoliberals, both supporting the private insurance industry. We must continue with our efforts to inform the public on the superiority of the single payer model, but we also have to step up our efforts in coalition and grassroots organizing. We may have majority support for the concept of Medicare for All, but we do not yet have a critical mass for political action.
We need to keep in mind that our mission is not to assuage our own egos by gaining a political victory, but it is the much more noble goal of improving the health care of the nation. That should make us want to continue to carry the torch in spite of the unfavorable political climate. We have a lot of work to do.
Physicians for a National Health Program is a nonpartisan educational organization. It neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.
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