- Joined
- Apr 23, 2012
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 3
Anesthesia: As more states are granting CRNAs independent practice rights, it seems hard to believe that hospitals will continue to pay double for anesthesiologists. Especially when the research (scant and underpowered as it is) shows that there is no difference in morbidity and mortality. Unless anesthesiologists find a way to separate themselves from CRNAs, this medical specialty may disappear from the US.
Psychiatry: Unfortunately, psychiatry has become a field in which the only financially feasible model for the MD is to write scripts all day and send the patients to therapists and psychologists for "talk therapy." Now that psychologists are gaining prescriptive powers, the role of a psychiatrist is becoming less clear. Sure, no psychologist is going to be managing a frankly psychotic patient with haldol any time soon, but who knows how far this trend will continue.
Radiology: Globalization is the biggest threat to this highly lucrative specialty. It's not hard to imagine hospitals sending their images to India or China where radiologists would read them for 5 cents/hour. The quality of the read might not be as good, but it beats paying a radiologist $900K/year or whatever they are making these days. Of course the lawyers would fight this change tooth and nail, since they can't sue an impoverished radiologist on the other side of the world. But with a rising national debt and sky-rocketing medical costs, I'm not so sure they would be successful in this fight.
Ophthalmology: The danger for ophthalmology is that there is already a well-established field in place called optometry that seems ready to take over. A couple states have already passed laws allowing optometrists to perform certain laser procedures. Will optometry continue to fight for more surgical rights? Who knows? Some optometrists think optometry should follow the "dentistry" model and perform all surgeries on the eye without going to medical school, while others are content doing primary care and refracting. For now the future relationship between these 2 fields is uncertain.
Family Medicine: This specialty has faced competition from all sides for a long time now. Midwives, OB/GYNs, pediatricians, and internists all take a share of the Family Medicine doctor's plate. Now the final nail in the coffin might be the independent nurse practitioner. As healthcare costs soar, these lovely practitioners might just take what's left.
PM&R: Now that physical therapy is almost exclusively a doctorate-level field, this might be another case of the lower-paid provider supplanting the "over-paid" physician. Time will tell.
Pathology: Patient interaction in pathology is basically nil. So why pay a medical school graduate $200K/year when a PhD in pathology could do it for half the cost?
Emergency Medicine: There will always be a role for them but with the rise of the mid-level practitioner, that role is shrinking. A level 1 trauma center will always have an EM physician on staff, but I could potentially see EDs in smaller more rural hospitals being stocked entirely by mid-levels in the not-to-distant future.
Psychiatry: Unfortunately, psychiatry has become a field in which the only financially feasible model for the MD is to write scripts all day and send the patients to therapists and psychologists for "talk therapy." Now that psychologists are gaining prescriptive powers, the role of a psychiatrist is becoming less clear. Sure, no psychologist is going to be managing a frankly psychotic patient with haldol any time soon, but who knows how far this trend will continue.
Radiology: Globalization is the biggest threat to this highly lucrative specialty. It's not hard to imagine hospitals sending their images to India or China where radiologists would read them for 5 cents/hour. The quality of the read might not be as good, but it beats paying a radiologist $900K/year or whatever they are making these days. Of course the lawyers would fight this change tooth and nail, since they can't sue an impoverished radiologist on the other side of the world. But with a rising national debt and sky-rocketing medical costs, I'm not so sure they would be successful in this fight.
Ophthalmology: The danger for ophthalmology is that there is already a well-established field in place called optometry that seems ready to take over. A couple states have already passed laws allowing optometrists to perform certain laser procedures. Will optometry continue to fight for more surgical rights? Who knows? Some optometrists think optometry should follow the "dentistry" model and perform all surgeries on the eye without going to medical school, while others are content doing primary care and refracting. For now the future relationship between these 2 fields is uncertain.
Family Medicine: This specialty has faced competition from all sides for a long time now. Midwives, OB/GYNs, pediatricians, and internists all take a share of the Family Medicine doctor's plate. Now the final nail in the coffin might be the independent nurse practitioner. As healthcare costs soar, these lovely practitioners might just take what's left.
PM&R: Now that physical therapy is almost exclusively a doctorate-level field, this might be another case of the lower-paid provider supplanting the "over-paid" physician. Time will tell.
Pathology: Patient interaction in pathology is basically nil. So why pay a medical school graduate $200K/year when a PhD in pathology could do it for half the cost?
Emergency Medicine: There will always be a role for them but with the rise of the mid-level practitioner, that role is shrinking. A level 1 trauma center will always have an EM physician on staff, but I could potentially see EDs in smaller more rural hospitals being stocked entirely by mid-levels in the not-to-distant future.