Secret Shoppers for HMOs

Problem:  Health care quality varies widely, especially in psychology.

Solution:  Secret Shopppers on a regular basis.

The world of psychological care is an odd one.  Years ago, the Rosenhan Experiment showed that voluntary psychological evaluations for someone who was fine outside of hearing the word ‘thud’ in their ears were committed.  Later, this was repeated and the experimenter was prescribed psychoactive drugs.   I personally went to several care people, all of which pushed drugs.

Imagine you are an HMO, charged with keeping health care costs managed for a set of the population.  It would be in your best interest to hire a couple of people to go for initial evaluations.  They could even keep the classic symptom, “thud” once per day.  If drugs are offered and prescribed, this tells you that the psychologist is taking the incorrect path, and one that is more expensive to boot.  By removing these incompetent professionals from your pool, you lower your average health costs.

It could be harder to do in other cases.  Sending a person with a real problem to a dozen different doctors may yield information, but it is work to standardize the process.