I would like to believe that the market will play itself out here. Patients would be granted lower physician/hospital fees in return for limiting physician/hospital liability and reduction in costs associated with filing health insurance claims.
It's worse than that. Doctors are becoming paid henchtoads of the insurers and PPO's, accepting abysmally restrictive work rules. They're practically in time-and-motion hell any more. Case in point: young woman of my acquaintance is about 26, has one child by her ex. She's very pale, and diabetes runs in her family -- both sides. She has occasional symptoms of something or other. Went to a doctor who did blood tests and announced -- rushing through her office visit -- that she was anemic but he couldn't figure out why. Shattered her confidence in him.
I suggested she go back and visit him again for followup, now that he's given her a tentative diagnosis of "anemia".....and just beat him to death with the Socratic method. I suggested she make a list, a long, long list, of all the things that could be possibly wrong with her (benign tumors, insulin resistance, bone-marrow disorders, liver disorders, leukemia, mononucleosis, hep C) and make him tell her why he thinks she doesn't have each one. She's obviously presenting with something, but he's rushing past her appointment because she doesn't offer him an easy diagnosis.
The reason I told her to do that is because I remember another young woman, 25 years ago, who married a guy I knew. They were very much in love and moved to California. She began having disturbing symptoms of something or other, but her doctors were stumped. Finally, after this had been going on for months and months, they finally diagnosed her with some obscure, dread disease when it had progressed quite some way, and she died a few months after that. Her husband was psychologically destroyed and was worthless for years, until he finally righted himself and found employment with Hughes Aircraft.
That's what happens when they can't answer your questions. And the less time they have to see you, because of work rules, the less likely they are to be able to answer your questions.