A physician blogger in the Chicago area who blogs over at In My Humble Opinion is a prolific poet who writes about “A primary care physician’s thoughts on medicine and life”. Honestly, his daily trials and tribulations with healthcare today make my practice seem ever more rewarding and somewhat insulated from what sounds like a never ending set of unique experiences, some very positive when caring directly for patients and some that make you shake your head. This one falls into the latter category and makes you wonder what dark holes primary care medicine and medicine in general is plunging into. Even those of us far removed from calling consultants to the bedside and those who support what we do should shake their heads and wonder how and why these “clinical business practices” for lack of better definition are being brought to the market place and tolerated by physicians:
I’m Sounding The Death Knell
A few minutes later we were discussing the particulars of the case. He was excited by the details. This was something that he had only seen a few times in his career. He rattled off a number of questions and I answered them to the best of my ability. I was standing in the hospital lobby by now. I didn’t want to risk venturing up to the patient room for fear of losing my mobile connection in the stairwell.
I was about to give the floor and room number when the allergist interrupted me with an unexpected question.
Do you work for the medical group?
He was referring to the large hospital based practice that had recently bought up almost all other physicians in the area. I knew that he had joined them, but generally don’t consider such alignments when making decisions about who to consult on a particular case. I always try to call the best physician for the job regardless of who they work for. I paused for a moment before telling him that I was still part of an independent practice. Although I could sense the hesitation in his voice, I would have never in a lifetime expected what came out of his mouth next.
Oh, um sorry, I only do inpatient consults for physicians who are part of the medical group.
It was such an abrupt surprise, I hung up the phone dumb founded before thinking of the litany of questions that were now pummeling through my head. Since when does the politics of corporate medicine replace helping those in need?
I’m sounding the Death Knell.
The primacy of patients in our healthcare system has now ended.
Source: In My Humble Opinion
