Before obtaining a second opinion, you need to understand what exactly it entails. A curated panel of top physicians lends deeper expertise to members’ health conditions and cases. They get the right diagnosis and treatment with no unnecessary procedures, delays or costs.

Expert medical opinions purvey comprehensive guidance for your most complex health needs. As a result, you end up with the best possible care overall. If you are an employer, you can save hundreds of thousands on unnecessary healthcare expenses by taking this route.

For most employers, a small percentage of their employees can carry a whole lot of healthcare costs due to complex and chronic conditions. Confusion about care and rising prices often drive health insurance members to incorrect or inadequate treatment. 

Why Would You Need an Expert Second Opinion? 

Expert medical opinions at the secondary and tertiary tiers guide them to high-quality care in a system rife with obstacles such as:

Unfitting Care

Too often, members with complex healthcare needs see doctors who don’t have the necessary level of expertise in their particular illness or unique clinical needs. This can lead to misdiagnosis and unnecessary treatments (despite board certification) contributing to the 25% of healthcare costs considered waste in today’s times.

Disjointed Care

Some patients have multiple chronic conditions managed by different providers who may not coordinate with each other. This uneven care experience often leads to a departure from clinical best practices resulting in higher costs and needless hospitalizations for these members.

Inadequate Supervision

For those without proficient healthcare and medical literacy, the healthcare system can be scary, confusing and overwhelming. These individuals don’t make informed critical care decisions and end up incurring costs many times greater than those with proficient health literacy.

Second medical opinions is, realistically speaking, a sanctioning process given to patients and doctors alike to ratify their diagnosis, review the treatment advised and render references on treatments offered. Such opinions offer insights on additional treatment options.

The process of looking for a second medical opinion can be as simple as getting a referral from your current doctor and making sure your health assurance will pay for it. You will need to gather any biopsy or surgery reports, hospital discharge reports, relevant imaging tests, and information on drugs or supplements you take.

A second opinion can help you decide which treatment is most appropriate for your particular situation. It’s important to make sure that any second (or third) opinion you seek is from a physician who has broad experience and expertise treating the condition that you’ve been subsequently diagnosed with. There are many benefits of having a second opinion:

Enhanced Treatment & Bypass of Unnecessary Risks

Beyond the diagnosis, a second opinion provides us with a chance to relay questions, understand the options, and help in deciding whether to proceed with a potentially risky therapy or not, and thereby restore confidence that the treatment plan recommended is undeniably appropriate. 

All told, good medical services provide smart, proactive, informed choices, and don’t mind the patient securing second or third opinions that patients in need of immediate care can trust with confidence.