Most individual doctors offices in a town today are secretly members of a corporate consortium of some kind. Some umbrella LLC. "Xxx medical group LLC" etc . You'll find some group has most of the individual doctors offices monopolized in a town. They all keep competition down and prices up and they must follow computer protocols they read on the computer screen they have in the examine rooms. If your doctor has one that's what it is. If they follow those protocols the whole groups malpractice insurance rates are lower because it's harder to sue them. But the protocols have nothing to do with what's right for individual patients. So you may think you are getting specific doctors advise from the doctor you have known for years but you are just getting standard protocols from the computer. High cholesterol = statins prescription etc. And the doctors get fined by the LLC if they dont follow the protocols! Or if their prescriptions vary too much from the average! They get fined thousands of dollars. I recently had this told to me but a doctor Ina conversation. Her friend had been fined $1000 for too many prescriptions of a certain medicine above the average because his long time patients had all aged and older people usually needed those meds above average! (I never knew this happened) This is one reason doctors get mad if you don't follow the protocols. They will get fined. This is also why if you say no they want some sort of documentation that they tried to get you to do it and you refused..so they can appeal the LLC fines. Of course ego is the other reason. Please spread the word. This is very important for people to know. Also please contact your state Congress representative to try to make it illegal for such consortiums to exist without primary disclosure in the doctors office business name , make it illegal for consortiums to fine or penalize member doctors for their decisions, make it illegal for a computer to diagnose and recommend protocols..at least without telling the patient that is actually what's happening and it isn't the doctors personal recommendations. States are in charge of medical practice. Md license are issued by the states. Not the federal government's. This kind of regulation is common in other businesses. For example real estate agents must name their actual broker boss in every sign so why not doctors!? A doctor's office should be required to advertise their signs and name in the phone directory and answer the phone as " xyz consortium " not "Dr nice little doctors office" just like real estate agents are required by law to do. People have a right to know who they are ACTUALLY DOING BUSINESS WITH. So please copy and paste this whole thing everywhere. And please actually pick up the phone and call your state...not federal congressmen...congressmen and make them aware and get them to propose legislation to stop this in your state. This is one of those things that when one state congressmen proposes the legislation it is very difficult for others to oppose it. So all you need is one in each state. Edit: apparently this website let's you find your state..not federal..congressman in your state https://myreps.datamade.us/ So please call them right now. Just do it. They don't even know this stuff is happening. Edit When you call say you want three things. 1. Make it illegal for such consortiums to exist without primary disclosure in the doctors office business name. All ads and directories for each individual doctors office must list that consortium as the business name just like real estate agents must list their broker as the actual business in all signs and ads. Those real estate agent rules should be literally copied over for doctors too. Literally the same legislative language could be used. (This also shows legislators there is already precedent in their state for this. It's not some crazy idea or against freedom!) 2. make it illegal for consortiums to fine or penalize member doctors for their decisions. The individual doctors is licensed and is seeing the patient. No computer can examine that patient so a computer or distant doctor can't diagnose. So a doctor shouldn't be fined or membership costs increased for his or her decision. 3.make it illegal for a computer to diagnose and recommend protocols..at least without telling the patient that is actually what's happening and it isn't the doctors personal recommendations. Call it Truth in Medical Disclosure and Practice Act or something. State legislators need specific things already thought out for them to support or oppose. Not general concepts or complaints. If everyone plastered this across their social media or emailed this to everyone they knew today or tomorrow, by the end of the next week we could have some proposed legislation in every state in one month and it fast tracking to law by the end of the year. No one knows this happens and when they find out everyone hates it. Those kinds of problems are the easiest to get fast action on at state levels.