Stop Crying about the Future of Anesthesiology.....

[BeBlessedMD]

And do something about it. Here's (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/repeal-medicare-sgr.shtml) AMA's website link to a prewritten letter discussing the repeal of the SGR physician reimbursement cut to your state senators. Its better than complaining to each other over internet. Btw Fox analyst andrea tarantos is hot. See and I'm a democrat...thats bipartisanism at its best.

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[2win]

And do something about it. Here's (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/repeal-medicare-sgr.shtml) AMA's website link to a prewritten letter discussing the repeal of the SGR physician reimbursement cut to your state senators. Its better than complaining to each other over internet. Btw Fox analyst andrea tarantos is hot. See and I'm a democrat...thats bipartisanism at its best.

This is a joke - right???

 

[guitarguy09]

Sorry. No longer a fan of the AMA after they embraced the health care reform bill apparently on my behalf (without ever a vote, etc from it's members)...

I'll only be supporting the ASA from now on...

 

[pd4emergence]

And do something about it. Here's (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/repeal-medicare-sgr.shtml) AMA's website link to a prewritten letter discussing the repeal of the SGR physician reimbursement cut to your state senators. Its better than complaining to each other over internet. Btw Fox analyst andrea tarantos is hot. See and I'm a democrat...thats bipartisanism at its best.

The AMA no longer represents the interests of anesthesiologists in particular and "specialists" in general. I would be suprised if there was anyone on this anesthesia board that was still a member. I called yesterday (they have a 1800 number) and cancelled. They sold us out. About half of the M.D.'s in my state did not renew their memberships. The AMA is dead, nobody is reporting it yet but pretty soon less than 10% of physicians will be members. At least they have the CPT's and their insurance scams to make money. In my opinion they really don't give a sh#t about doctors.

 

[BeBlessedMD]

Educate me why on doing nothing is better than doing something....I've read numeruos blogs about the demise of the profession but no one suggesting what to do...just complaining. Also since you are reading please explain why reimbursements will go down so drastically. If anesthesiologists are already making well above the medicare reimbursement rate why would lowering it cause significant change?? Surgeons are not going to all of a sudden loose the need for our services. Ob/GYNs the same and so on. Will CRNA's take over and the government have to explain to the public that having a nurse to keep you alive during surgery is better than a MD??? About as likely as the FAA saying planes practically fly themselves now so were going to let attendants serve drinks and make sure the plane isnt crashing every now and then during flight. Yes this may be another pay cut...but I dont think this is the end of the insurance company. Insurance companies will still make their money somehow someway. And anesthesiology services will be needed for this to happen which means they must and will pay us. And btw I recently spoke to a private practice anesthesiologist and she was saying our specialty will not see much effect from the reform contrary to postings on SDN. She was stating surgeons were the ones in trouble.

 

[pgg]

And btw I recently spoke to a private practice anesthesiologist and she was saying our specialty will not see much effect from the reform contrary to postings on SDN. She was stating surgeons were the ones in trouble.

Well then, that settles it. I feel much better now. As long as those arrogant surgeons get a bigger shaft than me, I guess it's all OK.

 

[Jeff05]

Educate me why on doing nothing is better than doing something....I've read numeruos blogs about the demise of the profession but no one suggesting what to do...just complaining. Also since you are reading please explain why reimbursements will go down so drastically. If anesthesiologists are already making well above the medicare reimbursement rate why would lowering it cause significant change?? Surgeons are not going to all of a sudden loose the need for our services. Ob/GYNs the same and so on. Will CRNA's take over and the government have to explain to the public that having a nurse to keep you alive during surgery is better than a MD??? About as likely as the FAA saying planes practically fly themselves now so were going to let attendants serve drinks and make sure the plane isnt crashing every now and then during flight. Yes this may be another pay cut...but I dont think this is the end of the insurance company. Insurance companies will still make their money somehow someway. And anesthesiology services will be needed for this to happen which means they must and will pay us. And btw I recently spoke to a private practice anesthesiologist and she was saying our specialty will not see much effect from the reform contrary to postings on SDN. She was stating surgeons were the ones in trouble.

1. tort reform
2. limitation of spending on useless end-of-life procedures/services
3. cut out the vast network of healthcare "administrators," executives, and other who profit from healthcare without actually contributing to it.
4. start to financially punish people/companies for being fat, smoking, being non-compliant
5. raise taxes on EVERYONE to pay for this instead of paying physicians LESS and taxing them more, as is the current plan.

 

[Planktonmd]

Your private practice anesthesiologist is either clueless or lying to you.

We depend on medicare rates and although private insurers pay more, they tend to decrease their payments proportionally when medicare reimbursement goes down.

Private practice is also subsidized by the hospital so if the hospital makes less money they will pass their losses to us as well.

The solution will not be through an organization that decided that if you are not a primary care physician then you are a rich bastard that needs to be punished.

By the way, I am not a republican as most people here know.

Educate me why on doing nothing is better than doing something....I've read numeruos blogs about the demise of the profession but no one suggesting what to do...just complaining. Also since you are reading please explain why reimbursements will go down so drastically. If anesthesiologists are already making well above the medicare reimbursement rate why would lowering it cause significant change?? Surgeons are not going to all of a sudden loose the need for our services. Ob/GYNs the same and so on. Will CRNA's take over and the government have to explain to the public that having a nurse to keep you alive during surgery is better than a MD??? About as likely as the FAA saying planes practically fly themselves now so were going to let attendants serve drinks and make sure the plane isnt crashing every now and then during flight. Yes this may be another pay cut...but I dont think this is the end of the insurance company. Insurance companies will still make their money somehow someway. And anesthesiology services will be needed for this to happen which means they must and will pay us. And btw I recently spoke to a private practice anesthesiologist and she was saying our specialty will not see much effect from the reform contrary to postings on SDN. She was stating surgeons were the ones in trouble.

 

[PostCall]

She was stating surgeons were the ones in trouble.

please elaborate why.

 

[Stank811]

I agree I think a lot of people are premature in thinking that this bill is going to ruin anesthesiology/medicine...the only reason the bill didn't include what the news media is calling the "Doctors Fix" is so they could make it appear budget neutral...at least that is how I understand it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574483531025733584.html

 

[badgas]

I agree I think a lot of people are premature in thinking that this bill is going to ruin anesthesiology/medicine...the only reason the bill didn't include what the news media is calling the "Doctors Fix" is so they could make it appear budget neutral...at least that is how I understand it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574483531025733584.html

The only real doctor's "fix" will come when ALL of us stop taking any medicare, medicaid or any other form of insurance. Getting ALL of the middle men (lawyers, insurance, government, administration, etc) who are profiting for doing nothing is how we can bring down the costs of health care.

 

[mdfirst]

duuuhhh...the AMA is the government, they will always be on the governments side

 

[mdfirst]

duuuhhh...the AMA is the government, they will always be on the governments side...what made you think any different? the government crontols everything. trust me

 

[urge]

Sorry. No longer a fan of the AMA after they embraced the health care reform bill apparently on my behalf (without ever a vote, etc from it's members)...

I'll only be supporting the ASA from now on...

I'm doing the same.

 

[DOwnage]

I'm just a pre-med so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but if the AMA represents so few physicians total, why doesn't an opposing rival national group form for the interests of a majority of physicians and create a more powerful and better financed lobby?

I mean if the AMA turned its back on a majority of physicians to the point that it represents ~10%, and that remaining ~90% feels the AMA doesn't represent them all for similar reasons, the remaining ~90% could form a lobby that would financially crush the AMA. The sheer quantity of physicians would create a larger potential pool of membership dues that could buy the best lobbyists. It could shove the AMA out of power and influence enough legislators to make real favorable policies for physicians, patients, and health care in general.

From my understanding, it appears a lot of organizations are not directly opposed to the AMA but operate counter to their official policies. The problem is the AMA's opponents are fragmented and aren't able to cooperatively buy influence. Please correct my misconceptions where they exist because these types of discussions really interest me.

 

[jwk]

I'm just a pre-med so I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but if the AMA represents so few physicians total, why doesn't an opposing rival national group form for the interests of a majority of physicians and create a more powerful and better financed lobby?

I mean if the AMA turned its back on a majority of physicians to the point that it represents ~10%, and that remaining ~90% feels the AMA doesn't represent them all for similar reasons, the remaining ~90% could form a lobby that would financially crush the AMA. The sheer quantity of physicians would create a larger potential pool of membership dues that could buy the best lobbyists. It could shove the AMA out of power and influence enough legislators to make real favorable policies for physicians, patients, and health care in general.

From my understanding, it appears a lot of organizations are not directly opposed to the AMA but operate counter to their official policies. The problem is the AMA's opponents are fragmented and aren't able to cooperatively buy influence. Please correct my misconceptions where they exist because these types of discussions really interest me.

It's all about money. The AMA represents less than 1/6 of the physicians in the US, but unfortunately many of those appear to be Obama-lovers, and/or follow blindly and actually trust that the Democratic Congres will look out for them - witness their foolish support of Obamacare that got them absolutely NOTHING!!!

What's really sad too is that the Republicans in Congress aren't helping with the SGR fix - they're playing politics with it, and if it costs money, they're not supporting it, regardless of who it hurts in the end.

 

[jetproppilot]

And do something about it. Here's (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/health-system-reform/repeal-medicare-sgr.shtml) AMA's website link to a prewritten letter discussing the repeal of the SGR physician reimbursement cut to your state senators. Its better than complaining to each other over internet. Btw Fox analyst andrea tarantos is hot. See and I'm a democrat...thats bipartisanism at its best.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but the AMA has demonstrated neither effective presence nor effective lobbying power concerning physician's monetary interests in government funded health programs (i.e. medicare/medicaid).