Posted on 03/26/2010 10:49:15 AM PDT by reaganaut1
A quiet revolution is transforming how medical care is delivered in this country, and it has very little to do with the sweeping health care legislation that President Obama just signed into law.
But it could have a big impact on that law’s chances for success.
Traditionally, American medicine has been largely a cottage industry. Most doctors cared for patients in small, privately owned clinics — sometimes in rooms adjoining their homes.
But an increasing share of young physicians, burdened by medical school debts and seeking regular hours, are deciding against opening private practices. Instead, they are accepting salaries at hospitals and health systems. And a growing number of older doctors — facing rising costs and fearing they will not be able to recruit junior partners — are selling their practices and moving into salaried jobs, too.
As recently as 2005, more than two-thirds of medical practices were physician-owned — a share that had been relatively constant for many years, the Medical Group Management Association says. But within three years, that share dropped below 50 percent, and analysts say the slide has continued.
For patients, the transformation in medicine is a mixed blessing. Ideally, bigger health care organizations can provide better, more coordinated care. But the intimacy of longstanding doctor-patient relationships may be going the way of the house call.
...
There are political consequences, too. As doctors move from being employers to employees, their politics often take a leftward turn. This helps explain why the American Medical Association — long opposed to health care reforms — gave at least a tepid endorsement to Mr. Obama’s overhaul effort.
Gordon H. Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association, said that his organization had changed from being like a chamber of commerce to being like a union.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
...on Monday after Obamacare passed I was in my doctor’s office for my regular 6 month follow-up visit...I asked him if he was going to quit...he said ‘no for now’ but he’s in his early 50s and still has two in college...he was pretty sure that doctors in their 60s would start dropping out however.
.....and then he said something I hadn’t thought about before....sometime in the mid 1990s more doctors came to the US than graduated from US med schools...go to a big city hospital and you’ll see what he’s talking about...third world doctors, some with poor English skills...me, I don’t want to be treated by some guy who went to med school in a foreign country...neither do rich foreigners...that’s why they come here to be treated.
Or HMO's...Kennedy' plan to destroy the health care business so they could take it over.
Right. And why does the demand outpace the supply?
If they have the same mental capacity as Zero then our children won’t be able to find competent doctors for themselves or their children!
The AMA represents a very small fraction of doctors, and I’m sure the leadership has long since been bought off by the progressives to say anything they want. But it is unfair to tar doctors with what the AMA does.
We will see a sharp rise in labor cartels for health care providers especially physicians. I predict by 2015, we will see the first physican labor cartel. Although I despise labor cartels, I do not think that physicians have a choice. The rats will drop price controls and many other regulations on them. They need to form cartels to fight the tyranny of the rats.
Labor cartels will also spread to many other areas of health care. We will see reduced quality and higher costs as a result of labor cartels in health care. It may be a nightmare to receive treatment in a labor cartel dominated health care system.
I see one potential solution for physicians. Since Indian nations are sovereign, health care providers could set up practices on reservations (with Indian cooperation). This approach has appeal for reservations close to population centers. Physicians may also want to practice offshore on hospital ships. They could spend long periods on ship duty and then return home for extended periods.
Doctors are still 2:1 against socialist medicine. Most doctors who want socialist medicine are losers and have no specialty. They are envy of the doctors with specialties who make more money than them. Envy of other people wealth is the most important driving force in socialism.
We are not accepting new patients.
That's exactly what I thought.
The premium costs are covered by the larger hospitals...but a few years ago a family physician I'm aquainted with was paying over $120k a year for his malpractice insurance. He hung on as long as he could...but he'll be closing the doors and retiring soon. He has a small to moderate clinic which he runs himself.
The insurance company forbid him to do even the most minor surgery in his office a few years back....cutting thousands out of his yearly income. This is all due to frivolous lawsuits.
This healthcare "problem" our legislature is trying to cure.......is one they helped break in the first place. People get millions in settlements (of which the ambulance chasers get the lion's share)....and I guess they believe it's "free" money. Everyone pays in the long run... and here we are.
It is called Mehary School of Medicine in Nashville Tennessee. Ask some doctors you know about this school and they can tell the horrors that the school produces.
It is called Mehary School of Medicine in Nashville Tennessee. Ask some doctors you know about this school and they can tell you about the horrors that the school produces.
One pleasant benefit of the new foreign doctors will be their fine ebony masks and pretty feathers on their rattles.
That is a function of patient load. I encountered the same problem several years ago when my PCP relocated to the West Coast.
and it is the NYT which automatically is suspect.
>The doctors in France are unionized....
Same in Canadastan..
As a home-based medical transcriptionist I can attest that the above statement is true. I work for many foreign-born docs. Interestingly, one in particular is very vocal in his opposition to Obama care.
“Doctors are still 2:1 against socialist medicine”.
Not the young ones just coming out of medical school.
...LOL...good one AEMILIUS PAULUS!
If there are fines, then you must be in a plan. But not just any ol’ plan will work, I assume...
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