Doctors Strangled by Bureaucracy

Doctors Strangled by Bureaucracy
Patients wait in the waiting room at the Esperanza Health Center in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 13, 2017. DOMINICK REUTER/AFP/Getty Images
Petr Svab
Petr Svab
reporter
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The growing complexity of the health care system has beset doctors with mushrooming bureaucracy, raising costs for patients and taxpayers.

Running a doctor’s office naturally invites paperwork, from booking appointments to maintaining health records to bookkeeping. But a deluge of additional paperwork floods in when a doctor asks to be paid.

Doctors navigate dozens of funding streams, each a bureaucratic labyrinth brimming with forms to fill out and rules to follow. In addition to Medicare, Medicaid, and military insurance, there are dozens of other insurance companies, each with a unique set of requirements.

Petr Svab
Petr Svab
reporter
Petr Svab is a reporter covering New York. Previously, he covered national topics including politics, economy, education, and law enforcement.
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