Should regulations allow doctors to make 'self-referrals'?

When a doctor who has a financial stake in a health care company refers a patient to that company for a medical or surgical procedure, that doctor makes a 'self-referral'.

Con: Doctors who have a financial interest in particular health-care companies stand to profit by referring patients to those companies. Those doctors thus have an incentive to make referrals that are unnecessary to patients and costly to insurance companies. This produces a likely increase in health care costs for the nation.

Pro: Self-referrals can make technological improvements in medicine and surgery accessible to a larger number of people. Justified referrals can produce benefits for patients—benefits that they might not enjoy were all self-referrals banned.

Pro: Referrals of patients by doctors to companies in which the doctors have a financial stake (self-referrals) may afford patients convenience in handling appointments and completing medical records.