Article of Interest
Article Detail
Author: James
Doulgeris and Nicholas Bonvicino, MD
Article Date: April 03, 2014
Article
Title: Washington has Declared War on Doctors, says Physician
Source: Physicians Practice
Family physician Marlin Gill, of Decatur, Ala., wrote his
congressman looking for help against “Washington’s war against doctors,” and, his congressman
took the letter to the floor of the U.S House of Representatives. Great
politics, a stirring floor speech for TV, and one victim and his enabler. As a
practicing family physician, I plead for help...” is probably echoed by a lot
of physicians. Another resonates with: “Doctors are smothered by destructive
regulations that add costs, raise our overhead and ‘gum up the works,’ making
patient treatment slower and less efficient, thus forcing doctors to focus on
things other than patient care and reduce the number of patients we can help
each day. ”On this, and other points such as EHRs and ICD-10, now delayed until
next year or longer, and Obamacare’s 90-day “grace period” for patients who
purchase plans through the health insurance exchange patients, Gill hits the
mark square in the center. We agree that healthcare cannot be run like a
government bureaucracy, but, that is where we part ways with Gill in our
thinking. He pleads for help as a victim seeking a return to the status quo.
That is unrealistic because that ship has not only sailed, it has sunk. Deep. Obamacare,
for all of its faults, has done the nation a great service. It has exposed the
real cost of healthcare in this country. It has dumped those costs on its
citizens and it is becoming obvious that it tries to solve the wrong problem as
the cost of healthcare continues its unabated march to consume one-fifth of the
U.S. gross domestic product. While mainstream media pundits and politicians
bark and snarl across the aisle about birth control, narrow networks, and other
inequities, they remain oblivious to the root of the problem that leaves $800
billion in annual systemic waste unaddressed and a population that is getting
sicker instead of better. Historically, big problems like these might result in
massive profits for massive companies who solve them by utilizing massive
logistical capabilities. Not this time, because the solution is not
logistically based, or bricks and mortar, it is art and science performed one
patient at a time working within a clinical system. That is why this chaos is
manna from heaven for physician entrepreneurs, who, in collaboration with
healthcare business professionals, are the only people that can actually solve
the problem. The real money for years to come will go to those who can
effectively reduce spending, first by cutting waste and then by improving
health status across populations. It is right there, today, and within grasp.
The infrastructures for tomorrow’s industry giants are being built today. The
winners will be those with transformative programs and information technology
that can take data from those nettlesome electronic data systems and turn it
into information that, properly managed, can cut costs, improve quality and
keep most, if not all, of the difference. The losers will be those that try to
tweak the status quo. The collateral damage will be those that wallow in
victimhood whether in dying practices or as employees for hospitals that picked
the wrong path. How do you pick, or even identify the right path? Look for
these things in a practice or hospital:
• A comprehensive, common population management platform
that keeps everyone on the same clinical page.
• Strong, experienced, visionary management that has a
history of leading.
• Next generation Patient-Centered Medical Home systems
that control whole dollars instead of pennies on dollars.
• Big plans that are being implemented a step at a time.
• Management systems that enable, not repress, clinical
decision making and encourage and share best practices.
• Reimbursement systems that pay fairly for the extra
work it takes to do things right, and share the savings generously.
• Support systems that focus on, and provide the tools
for population health status improvement from day one, because that is where
savings come from when waste is cut.
• Management Service Organization counterparts that
handle the business of healthcare while physicians do the business of
healthcare.
The best of the best will find you.
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