"Primary care access survey canceled" June 29, 2011|New York Times
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration said yesterday that it had shelved plans for a survey in which "mystery shoppers" posing as patients would call doctors' offices to see how difficult it was to get appointments.
That's what government always says; I have learned over the years they simply change the name of the program, move it into another department, and keep on a a-rollin'
See: Secret Shoppers For Doctors
Brrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnggggggggg
"We have determined that now is not the time to move forward with this research project," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement yesterday.
The decision is an abrupt turnabout.
Think the outrage had something to do with it?
Sunday night, officials at the health department and the White House defended the survey as a way to measure access to primary care, and they insisted that it posed no threat to anyone's privacy....
Administration officials concluded that the survey could be more of a political liability than it was worth. Doctors and many Republican lawmakers criticized the project.
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