Report Managed Care Abuses

[Guest guest]

There is now an important web-site where New York State residents can

register their specific complaints against managed care companies.

The National Association of Social Workers, (NASW), New York City

Branch, has been collecting reports of abuses by managed care companies

from both patients and health care providers in New York State. They are

compiling these statistics so that they can identify the barriers to

decent medical care and then support legislation that would best protect

patients.

They recently put out a preliminary report of the data they have

collected thus far. This report generated interest from the New York

State Attorney General's Office which can prosecute companies not in

compliance with the NYS Managed Care Law, which is actually one of the

better laws in the country.  

If you are a New York State resident and have had a problem with your

managed care company, you can fill out and submit a form on-line by

going to: http://www.naswnyc.org   Press the button for the Managed

Care Critical Incident Report on the BOTTOM of the page (a little hard

to see, but it's there). Fill out the form and send it. Your identity

will be kept confidential.

NASW is collecting complaints about all medical conditions, not just

Lyme. However, their project gives the Lyme community an opportunity to

collect data about Managed Care Abuses SPECIFIC to Lyme patients. The

Lyme DIsease Coalition of New York and Connecticut, Inc. has volunteered

to keep track of this data so that it can be made available to the Lyme

community.

So that we can get a copy of your Managed Care Critical Incident Report

from NASW, please write on your form , in the space where you are asked

to explain your problem, " I give permission for a copy of my form to be

given to the Lyme Disease Coalition of New York and Connecticut " .   As

with NASW, the LDCNY/CT.,Inc. promises to keep your identity

confidential.

Ellen