This was my big problem with the article. The assertion that this is being done by physicians, consistently and on a large scale, with the explicit intent of charging more money.
Yup:
"The United States has more neurosurgeons per capita than almost any other developed country, and they compete with orthopedists for spinal surgery."
"In some instances, a patient may be lying on a gurney in the emergency room or in a hospital bed, unaware that all of the people in white coats or scrubs who turn up at the bedside will charge for their services. At times, a fully trained physician is called in when a resident or a nurse, who would not charge, would have sufficed."
"Some strategies used by surgeons, including billing large amounts for a second surgeon in the room or declaring an operation an emergency, raise serious questions."
"The indications for immediate spinal surgery, such as loss of bladder function or rapidly progressive paralysis, are rare. But insurers are more likely to reimburse a hospital or surgeon with whom they do not have a contract if a case is labeled an emergency."
"When the doctor’s billing office pursued Mr. Sullivan for the balance of the bill and even threatened to turn his account over to collection,"
"Fusions generally require a second trained pair of hands, but those can be provided by a resident or a neurosurgical nurse or physician assistant employed by the hospital, for whom there is no additional charge."
"The person in scrubs who walks a patient to a bathroom for the first time after hip surgery may turn out to be a physical therapist billing $400."
"Healthy surgical patients typically do not need a general doctor; an anesthesiologist clears them for surgery. Mr. Sullivan noted that if he had needed an internist, he would have called his own, "
