Archives : specialty care
Specialization in health care means more cost to the system
It’s the unfortunate reality that while increased specialization of labor in health care can result in better care, it most certainly results in more expensive care. This is going to be an issue until we find a way to pay more for “brain time” or “cognitive medicine.”
From, the NY Times: Let Doctors Bid for Medicare Business
Researchers have observed that having one additional specialist (per 100,000 people) in
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There is a downside to specialization of labor in medical care
Specialization of labor helps to improve quality, efficiency, and profitability. In health care however, there is a downside – it can come at the cost of the quality of the continuum of care that patients need and deserve.
This is one of the worst examples of patient abandonment I can imagine. Surgeons are paid a bundled fee to provide surgical care for a 90 day period. I’m pretty sure CMS would like to hear
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The business of referrals in medicine
In any industry, new business is required for growth, but it’s naturally much harder to come by. This has an impact on health care.
The New York Times published an essay titled, “Referral System Turns Patients Into Commodities” recently, and it provides stellar insight into the behind-the-scenes business relationships that are driving supply and demand of both patients and specialty care.
Logic says that a referral should depend
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Doctors aren’t paid to think
If you read this blog regularly, this won’t be the first time you’ve read a post about the growing trend in medicine that favors reimbursement for procedures over time spent with patients, regardless of how important or necessary that time is to the overall plan of care. As the leader of many trends in medicine, Medicare is the driving force behind this direction our reimbursement system is taking, and there isn’t an immediate end in sight.
