Physicians today are under the gun to perform. Many or most of them have quotas they must meet. The physicians who are employed today by corporations or hospitals, often owned by corporations, are many times controlled by bean counters. What do bean counters care about? Their bottom line! Don’t ever delude yourself by thinking a hospital accountant cares about your health. That is not their concern. Their concern is money. How much can we make. When the bean counters start finding out they will make more if the patient dies, we will have a big problem.
According to the Geneia survey, the American Misery Index for physicians climbed from 3.78 to 3.94 out of five. Terrible isn’t it that nearly 80% of physicians are miserable in their lives, experiencing more cynicism, empathy towards their patients and departure from practice. The horrible thing I see from being in the medical profession for 50 years is that loss of empathy and caring can only lead to poor relationships with your patients and poor results in their care. Who wants to see a physician who does not care about you? This is again one of the problems we face today.
In a former lifetime, healthcare professionals went into healthcare because they were humanitarians. The number one driver was altruism. Today the migration of over 90% of doctors is into one of many specialties. The main reason is, the most important doctor in the equation is the primary care specialist who gets paid for the entire day what a cardiologist can make in one-half to one hour for a cardiac catheterization. Guess how many specialists are going into primary care if they cannot make enough to pay back their student loans.
When I graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 1968, the care of the average American was provided mainly by primary care physicians. American ranked number one in healthcare and education in the world. Today with all of our wonderful specialists who because of their specialization, are unable to connect the dots, our care has sunk to 50th in the world along with our education. Wow, isn’t technology great.
Have a blessed day.
Dr. Rick is a retired American physician, entrepreneur and philanthropist who has done mission work around the country and around the world. He is on a mission to improve healthcare in America. If you would like to read Dr. Rick’s story, “God’s Tiniest Angel and the Last Unicorn” is available on Amazon. Visit www.maverickdoctor.com or email him at [email protected].
