- Joined
- Apr 15, 2002
- Messages
- 174
- Reaction score
- 2
So I put this together to get everyone's feel on what is happening in healthcare. Physicians, for years, have not been involved in either politics or business. It has cost them. For most of us, we just want to take care of patients. The problem is that through cost measures and political power of other groups, we are losing the ability to provide the best care and more importantly our rights as citizens of the USA.
For example, if a person goes to medical school and graduates and achieves one of the highest degrees possible (MD or DO) then sacrafices another 5 years to become a surgeon, then he/she is unable to invest in hospitals. What the heck is that all about? I think that physicians should own the hospital they practice out of. How can congress discriminate against a person because of the degree and sacrifice they make?
So I looked into it. Hospitals came out and made a strong arguement that physician owned hospitals cherry pick cases and maximize their profit while leaving the charity care and poor paying patients to the community hospitals. Then I dug deeper and the government (GAO, MedPAC, and CMS) found that Physician owned hospitals actually don't effect general hospitals and furthermore stimulate competition. Sounds like a good thing to me.
Another problem is encroachment of physicians turf. It seems like everyone wants to be captain of the ship without going to officer training classes.
The example here is the advent of the doctor of nursing practice. The claim here is to reach a terminal degree and to address research and academic needs. I actually agree that DNP's are needed for research and teaching, however the fact remains that the vast majority of DNP's will be in the clinic or hospital and would most likely take on a bigger role for the supervising physician. This will lead to more mistakes (how many times have we residents come up with a good treatment plan to only have it changed by the attending which leads to mistakes and/or patient and nursing confusion?) and poorer patient care. The more disturbing part of this will be when they appeal for separate but equal practice rights (with matching compensation).
These are big problems that we have sat idol on. We work our tails off sacrifice more than people know. When we reach the end of the line, someone says they are just as prepared and are deserve the same title and compensation as you with a fraction of the education or exposure to pathology. This is crazy and should be met with a lot of resistance.
Equally as troublesome is the hospitals trying to put the squeeze on doctors. I want my patients treated the way I want them treated, not what a lawyer or hospital administrator says will meet our cost cap. Truely, physicians should be calling the shots for their patients from the time they hit the hospital door until the time they exit. For congress to restict this is ludicrous.
What say you?
For example, if a person goes to medical school and graduates and achieves one of the highest degrees possible (MD or DO) then sacrafices another 5 years to become a surgeon, then he/she is unable to invest in hospitals. What the heck is that all about? I think that physicians should own the hospital they practice out of. How can congress discriminate against a person because of the degree and sacrifice they make?
So I looked into it. Hospitals came out and made a strong arguement that physician owned hospitals cherry pick cases and maximize their profit while leaving the charity care and poor paying patients to the community hospitals. Then I dug deeper and the government (GAO, MedPAC, and CMS) found that Physician owned hospitals actually don't effect general hospitals and furthermore stimulate competition. Sounds like a good thing to me.
Another problem is encroachment of physicians turf. It seems like everyone wants to be captain of the ship without going to officer training classes.
The example here is the advent of the doctor of nursing practice. The claim here is to reach a terminal degree and to address research and academic needs. I actually agree that DNP's are needed for research and teaching, however the fact remains that the vast majority of DNP's will be in the clinic or hospital and would most likely take on a bigger role for the supervising physician. This will lead to more mistakes (how many times have we residents come up with a good treatment plan to only have it changed by the attending which leads to mistakes and/or patient and nursing confusion?) and poorer patient care. The more disturbing part of this will be when they appeal for separate but equal practice rights (with matching compensation).
These are big problems that we have sat idol on. We work our tails off sacrifice more than people know. When we reach the end of the line, someone says they are just as prepared and are deserve the same title and compensation as you with a fraction of the education or exposure to pathology. This is crazy and should be met with a lot of resistance.
Equally as troublesome is the hospitals trying to put the squeeze on doctors. I want my patients treated the way I want them treated, not what a lawyer or hospital administrator says will meet our cost cap. Truely, physicians should be calling the shots for their patients from the time they hit the hospital door until the time they exit. For congress to restict this is ludicrous.
What say you?
