“It’s America’s biggest business, and it’s all about money’’
Chew on that one for a long time, 'kay?
Also see: No Choice But Single Payer
The Healthy and Hearty Voice of the Healthcare Lobbyists
Over at the school now.
"For young doctors, a lesson in finance; Tufts seminar helps residents navigate a changing industry" by Robert Weisman, Globe Staff | August 23, 2009
WATERTOWN - They’ve slogged their way through medical school, mastering everything from biochemistry to diagnostic imaging. They’ve hustled through sleep-deprived hospital residency rotations, scrambling to treat trauma patients in emergency rooms.
Now comes the hard part: learning the business....
“Idealistically, you like to think you’re focusing on patient care,’’ said Nicholas Nguyen, 28, a senior resident at Tufts Medical Center in Boston and the Cambridge Health Alliance. “But when you start seeing patients, you also start dealing with the business aspects. You realize how big a part of your practice the business is.’’
They were repeatedly reminded their chosen profession is not only a calling, but also a critical engine of the economy.
“You guys control, you write the orders for, the largest economic sector in the United States,’’ said Jon Kingsdale, executive director of the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority, the agency responsible for implementing Massachusetts health reform and helping the state’s uninsured residents shop for health coverage. “It’s America’s biggest business, and it’s all about money.’’
And here's a prescription I'd like you to fill.
But I didn't say I needed one.
It's all right, fill it anyway (doc pats on back, exits room)
Also see: Why You Are Getting National Health Care
Why Obama Wants A Health Care Bill This Year
Kingsdale asked the residents to remember their mission was not only to help patients....
but....
BUT WHAT?
You want to know th problem with AmeriKa's death care?
That's it, right there.
BUT!
This proposed global payment system bears “some methodological similarities’’ to capitation, a flat-fee system that was tried - and is considered to have been unsuccessful - during the 1990s....
And back then?
"the system encouraged doctors to deny patients necessary care so they could stay within their budgets."
Related: How You Will Pay For Your Medicine
Many of the residents attending the Tufts Health Care Institute program said they came away with a clearer understanding of insurers’ and employers’ perspectives, and of the larger economic and political context of their business, things they hadn’t learned in medical school.
That can't be good news.
But they weren’t sure that would ease their frustration at aspects of the medical system they’re beginning to confront, from malpractice liability to the wrangling over insurance reimbursements....
Why did I go into so much debt and do this, 'eh?
--more--"