Are chronic pain patients "commoditized medicine?"

[drusso]

Medicine: noble profession or big business?

"Health systems strategize to attract patients with complex diseases associated with more favorable payment margins. Patients with common maladies are categorized as “commodity medicine.” Commodity — a term traditionally used to categorize precious metals, soybeans, and corn — is being used to characterize large swathes of the patient population."

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[Ducttape]

is this a call for socialized medicine though???

 

[drusso]

is this a call for socialized medicine though???

...the Dentists have something important to tell you...

https://www.dentaleconomics.com/art...onomics/fighting-against-commoditization.html

"If we want to take back control of our lives and the quality of our profession, it must begin with each of us as individual clinicians. We need to start asking ourselves one question every day: “What is the one compelling reason patients should come to see us instead of the other choices they have in the marketplace?” If they are our patients just because we accept their insurance plans, this will not be a compelling enough reason for them to stay with us when price or convenience is challenged. If we don’t know why our patients should come to see us specifically, then how can we expect them to know? Furthermore, how can we expect them to see our dentistry as any different from all of the other products and services that they shop around for?"

 

[Ducttape]

The article tells me that dentists need to find a way of making patients feel that their hard earned dollar is worth going to the dentist rather than some mall store.

Ie it’s all about $$$$, and making ppl feel their $ is wisely spent.

I didn’t go in to medicine for $$$. Maybe you did. I don’t know. I went in to medicine to take care of people.

Making sure ppl think the free toothbrush and floss they got with their appt is value and will make them come back? If that’s what dentistry - and, by extension, medicine - has become, then the profession has lost me.

 

[Aether2000]

For routine office visits, most patients will go to the physician in-network with their insurer, but some will elect to pay for balanced billing, and only a few with insurance will pay a full fee for an out-of-network physician. For more expensive procedures in-office that are one time procedures, some will pay balanced billing and only a few will pay the full fee out of pocket. For recurring office or surgery center procedures, or expensive hospital procedures, most patients will seek a doctor in-network or will simply not pay the bill after the service is rendered.

 

[drusso]

The article tells me that dentists need to find a way of making patients feel that their hard earned dollar is worth going to the dentist rather than some mall store.

Ie it’s all about $$$$, and making ppl feel their $ is wisely spent.

I didn’t go in to medicine for $$$. Maybe you did. I don’t know. I went in to medicine to take care of people.

Making sure ppl think the free toothbrush and floss they got with their appt is value and will make them come back? If that’s what dentistry - and, by extension, medicine - has become, then the profession has lost me.

It's thought provoking to consider what separates anyone from the Shmoe in the "structured opioid refill clinic" down the street? It seems like the delta between what the Shmoe down the street does and what you do is your true value to the consumer-patient. Absent a demonstrable value proposition to the patient at the check-in counter, I guess it's true...we're all just drilling teeth..."Come back Tuesday, same place different face..."

 

[lobelsteve]

After careful consideration and a thorough review of my practice and local competition I have come to the conclusion that I am significantly better than those around me. It must be my extreme modesty that has hidden this talent for so long.