What’s Behind That Medical Referral?

Your primary care doctor refers you to see a specialist. You get a name – or, ideally, multiple names – of doctors recommended to you. Understandably, you assume these are the best possible doctors to follow-up on medical questions your doctor couldn’t answer, and perhaps to perform a procedure that could significantly affect your health.

That may well be the case. However, experts say the reality is often convoluted by many underlying factors and fractured forces that dictate how 21st century American medicine is practiced.