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That is exactly our experience. We have had other HMO's in the past so I understand the fears that everyone has, but Kaiser doesn't run that way. In our cases, all that our primary care physician really did was order tests. Once those indicated what they did (RA, cancer) we were immediately sent to the specialists. It seemed to be their protocol.I was skeptical and thought HMO was going to be a hassle initially after having a PPO, but once you are established with a Kaiser specialist, you don't need to worry about the primary care doc and they stay out of the way. Some specialists like dermatology/acne services for teens, optometry/opthomology don't require a referral. Can go direct. Other times it is simply a matter of emailing the PCP.
Read recently that outside of a system like Kaiser an independent or small group general practitioner or internal medicine may try to keep the patient within the private practice longer because referring to a specialist means a loss of revenue or they may not know exactly who to send the patient to. At Kaiser, specialists are plentiful, referrals by PCPs are not a loss of revenue and PCPs actually are incented to refer to a specialist because they have a limited time window with the patient and it is easier to refer to a specialist than spend too much time diagnosing something that will take time and a specialist can do better/faster.
There also have been times when we didn't know what exactly was wrong and the PCP was instrumental in identifying several specialists which we wouldn't have considered. Our PCPs have always been supportive and don't interfere when a specialist is needed. Never been a roadblock to getting services. It's actually nice to have someone who knows you to heal the simple stuff and concierge other items.
Just the other day after the post that I read here, I emailed my doctor and asked them to add titers to my standing blood work orders (those are every 3 months) and now it will happen automatically when I get my next regular blood draw. The other thing that we discovered with Kaiser was that they do what they do, and they refer you outside when it is outside of their normal practice. For example, my husband had his cancer surgery at Kaiser, but his radiation was through UCSD, by the head of their radiation oncology department no less. We had seamless care when he had to go the the ER on the Big Island - everything was transmitted electronically to the doctors there - and of course we never saw a bill. From a patient perspective, Kaiser is awesome.
I am not sure how Kaiser is doing it, but they have stepped up their game. Hopefully in the 7 years that we have been away from the other providers/companies, they have done the same.