That's a great idea, except doctors are the most cowardly people when it comes to shaming/outing their own. We all know doctors that we work with that commit malpractice nearly every time they touch the scalpel or turn on the beam, but have we ever called a meeting to sit down with them and the hospital privileging board? We just talk about how bad other doctors are behind their back and nothing changes. No way ASTRO will out any members for doing anything. Let me through down the gauntlet. This is an anonymous message board for many of you. Anyone name a radiation oncologist working for a urology owned facility. I'll collect the names, make the list and send it to ASTRO and see what they will do with it. But seriously, what about the guys that treat bone mets to 50 Gy/25 Fx? Shouldn't we be outing them? Physicians have a legendary tradition of not self policing and that's why we have all these federal regulators and bureaucrats up in our business in the first place.
Sorry .. In the real world, doctors don't shame doctors. Too much at stake (which typically doesn't include patient care).
And, yeah, I'm being a naysayer and not offering a solution. The legislative solution has no teeth (see Chesapeake Urology just operate away illegally), radiation oncologists that can't pass their boards or are very greedy need jobs and will do anything for one, and the urologists are much stronger and cannier than we are.
If we want to seriously screw them over, my idea would be for large academic centers to in large cities to go in together and put up linacs right next door to the urology facility, and then tell the insurers they will treat prostate patients for 1/2 the cost (somewhere around break even) and break their backs. MDACC/Baylor could do it in Houston. UPMC/Penn could do it in Pennsylvania. That would be fantastic, and the short term loss would be worth the pleasure of watching them go down in flames.
-S
