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The Doctor Won't See You Now. He's Clocked Out
Wall Street Journal ^ | March 14, 2013 | SCOTT GOTTLIEB

Posted on 03/16/2013 9:12:16 PM PDT by Innovative

ObamaCare is pushing physicians into becoming hospital employees. The results aren't encouraging.

The irony is that in the name of lowering costs, ObamaCare will almost certainly make the practice of medicine more expensive. It turns out that when doctors become salaried hospital employees, their overall productivity falls.

The result? It is estimated that by next year, about 50% of U.S. doctors will be working for a hospital or hospital-owned health system.

Once they work for hospitals, physicians change their behavior in two principal ways. Often they see fewer patients and perform fewer timely procedures.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: 0care; doctors; healthcare; medicine; obama; obamacare; obamacaredoctors; physicians; zerocare
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To: chronicles
I have heard through friends of a couple of doctors who are retiring early because of 0bamaCare.

People don't go through 12 years of schooling-training, get tens of thousands of dollars in debt, pay 70-90% of their income for malpractice insurance, face an increased chance of Federally imposed fines, criminal charges and a geometric increase in paperwork to be flat-salaried medical technicians following a robotic regimen of practice imposed by bureaucrats.

21 posted on 03/16/2013 10:56:57 PM PDT by TigersEye (The irresponsible should not be leading the responsible.)
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To: Innovative
we have hospitalists and they work like dogs....

they don't relax....I've never seen one shrug off work in the form of tests, examinations,etc......

22 posted on 03/16/2013 11:00:54 PM PDT by cherry
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To: TigersEye

“flat-salaried medical technicians following a robotic regimen of practice imposed by bureaucrats. “

Unfortunately this about sums it up.


23 posted on 03/16/2013 11:18:05 PM PDT by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: Innovative

Duh! When you get paid by the hour, guess what happens?


24 posted on 03/16/2013 11:20:07 PM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
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To: Innovative

I’m sure you understand me but just to be clear to all; I am not being demeaning to doctors. Simply describing what 0bamaCare will do to doctors. And still no one fully knows what all is in the law or what all regulations will be spawned from it. Not even the bureaucrats charged with coming up with them.


25 posted on 03/16/2013 11:31:08 PM PDT by TigersEye (The irresponsible should not be leading the responsible.)
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To: TigersEye

“People don’t go through 12 years of schooling-training, get tens of thousands of dollars in debt, pay 70-90% of their income for malpractice insurance, face an increased chance of Federally imposed fines, criminal charges and a geometric increase in paperwork to be flat-salaried medical technicians following a robotic regimen of practice imposed by bureaucrats.”

Brilliant. I’m a physician board certified in a lucrative subspecialty. Too young to retire. I joined a state run medical center for a decent salary. The only pathway to survival is to forgo private practice and become an employee of the Marxist and his minions. I try to treat all my patients with respect, but they are in for a rough ride with what lay ahead.


26 posted on 03/16/2013 11:48:41 PM PDT by BlueStateRightist (Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.)
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To: TigersEye

We know what you meant.

Doctors will not be allowed to practice medicine, only to follow rules set by bureaucrats as to what tests and treatments they are allowed to order, regardless of considering the actual needs of the individual patients.


27 posted on 03/16/2013 11:49:34 PM PDT by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: BlueStateRightist

” The only pathway to survival is to forgo private practice and become an employee of the Marxist and his minions. I try to treat all my patients with respect, but they are in for a rough ride with what lay ahead.”

And I am sure that under Obamacare bureaucrats will overrule your medical judgment based on your years of training and experience and knowledge of your patients, forcing the application of “one size fits all” medicine.


28 posted on 03/16/2013 11:52:51 PM PDT by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: BlueStateRightist
I sympathize with you and your patients. We are all going to feel the pain of it at some point and probably sooner rather than later. Few would blame you or other doctors if you just moved to a country where you can practice medicine properly.

My father was a family physician from '56 to '86 when he passed on. He warned me that socialized medicine would ruin health care. Told me that about 1982.

29 posted on 03/16/2013 11:58:55 PM PDT by TigersEye (The irresponsible should not be leading the responsible.)
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To: Innovative

The reality is how treatment choices will be much more limited and determined primarily by cost. The UK model (using the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, aka NICE) entails just this type of rationing of drug therapy. And contrary to what some at this site believe, many modern and expensive drugs save and immeasurably improve millions of lives. I see it every day.


30 posted on 03/17/2013 12:02:29 AM PDT by BlueStateRightist (Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.)
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To: BlueStateRightist

...”rationing of drug therapy”

I absolutely agree with you — just add to “drug therapy”, surgeries and tests will also be rationed.


31 posted on 03/17/2013 12:04:46 AM PDT by Innovative ("Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." -- Vince Lombardi)
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To: FreedomStar3028

No they should contact a lawyer and have him contact the hospital with the threat of a potential lawsuit for turning away a person with a medical problem.

You’d be amazed how fast you can get a response when you call an organization and say, “Who do I talk to about a lawsuit against you and the hospital?”

I’ve have responses that passed the Speed of Light in return time.

Love it!


32 posted on 03/17/2013 12:31:08 AM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Innovative

Not to worry. Those doctors from Kenya and Ethiopia and Salvador etc will be more than willing to work on a salary that is 10 times what they’d be paid at home.


33 posted on 03/17/2013 12:56:44 AM PDT by Terry Mross (This country will fail to exist in my lifetime. And I'm gettin' up there in age.)
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To: Innovative
The irony is that in the name of lowering costs, ObamaCare will almost certainly make the practice of medicine more expensive.

That's not irony.

The whole point of Obamacare is to wreck US healthcare so that it can be replaced with socialised, unionised, cradle-to-grave control over the serfs.

34 posted on 03/17/2013 3:10:39 AM PDT by agere_contra (I once saw a movie where only the police and military had guns. It was called 'Schindler's List'.)
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To: Innovative

Bump


35 posted on 03/17/2013 4:18:27 AM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: tina07
He said people from India aren’t coming here because of how bad it is or will soon be.

A mega-wealthy friend of mine and his equally wealthy friends regularly fly to Thailand for non-emergency tests, treatment and surgeries. He tells me that the medical care there is superb and far surpasses ours and that the physical facilities border on the luxurious.

36 posted on 03/17/2013 4:27:20 AM PDT by Salvey
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To: TSgt

You should have used the name Juan Valdez, head of line and then no bill.


37 posted on 03/17/2013 4:47:06 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Terry Mross

“Those doctors from Kenya and Ethiopia and Salvador etc will be more than willing to work on a salary that is 10 times what they’d be paid at home.”

And that will define the type of medical care that the American public will get.


38 posted on 03/17/2013 5:18:32 AM PDT by pieceofthepuzzle
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To: Innovative

As a doctor working for a hospital system, I think you miss the important points. We work on commission, so we are incentivized to be productive.

With Obamacare, we will have a dramatic increase in Medicaid patients. They have no skin in the game (co-pays) and are far more likely to no show for appointments. The hospital loses money treating Medicaid patients, because the reimbursement is so low. I make almost nothing seeing these patients and they don’t listen anyway.

What is likely to happen, aside from early retirement (which I am considering), is that doctors form private groups that refuse to take Medicaid. A friend works for a group that takes only private pay and Blue Cross. It makes the paperwork easier as well.


39 posted on 03/17/2013 6:10:25 AM PDT by neocon1984
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To: BlueStateRightist
The reality is how treatment choices will be much more limited and determined primarily by cost. The UK model (using the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, aka NICE) entails just this type of rationing of drug therapy. And contrary to what some at this site believe, many modern and expensive drugs save and immeasurably improve millions of lives. I see it every day.

I'm sure that many will agree that the upside of Obamacare is that the price of those drugs will be driven artificially down to prevent the greedy pharmaceutical companies from making profits.

Never mind that without being able to recoup development costs, those companies won't be developing new drugs. And when they can't afford to support research any more, that puts not only the scientists who work for those companies out of work, but also the scientists who don't work for them, but do the basic research into biology that eventually leads to new therapies and targeted drug development. There is no need to understand fundamental biological processes when nothing will be done with the knowledge.

Being one of those basic researchers, I'm having serious concerns about the future of my career. Obamacare is bad.

40 posted on 03/17/2013 6:16:24 AM PDT by exDemMom (Now that I've finally accepted that I'm living a bad hair life, I'm more at peace with the world.)
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