DRLUGO BLOG

I am sure we all have heard how much money is spent in our country. we would think that we would be the healthiest country in the world. where is the money going? why are we not getting what we pay for? I am a doctor and I am also disappointed to see how the money is wasted. IT is not only one problem. IT is many problems together and not a simple solution.

I believe that a large part of the problem is that many companies and insurance companies, other third parties and many politicians make money at the expense of health care. the doctors make money, but the truth is hat every day we make less and we get more and more restricted on what we can do. the first mistake that we made was to loose control of patient care and the way we practice medicine. We have to follow insurance company guidelines and these companies only goal is to make money. It is outrageous how these companies want to run the medical decisions from an office in a distant city without even seeing the pt and in that way control the cost. I can not believe how many times pt care is denied and obstacles are set in place to save money and prevent pt care t take place. That is one problem. IT is more complex than what I stated here, but this is a large part of it. Another problem is the lawyers. there is so many lawyers out there that make their living looking for medical errors. The interesting part is that most of the lawsuits are not even malpractice. A lot of times they make their money because the doctor has no time and settles. why is this allowed. Well the clearest evidence of this abuse is that we have seen a reduction in frivolous suits in TX. The reason for that is the changes in legislation limiting the amounts awarded. All of the sudden, it is not profitable so they really pick and chose the cases. So was this in the best interest of the pt or in the interest of the lawyers pockets? Don’t get me wrong, malpractice should be monitored and quality medical care should be advocated, but this should not be a business where people get rich and in the process destroy other professionals lives. I am glad that there is a balance being reached finally. Even though the medicine we practice now a days is defensive in nature and that increases the cost. Doctors are expected to be perfect and never make a mistake. We are not allowed to use our medical instinct or knowledge. We have to prove over an over that we are right. So many unnecessary tests to just please the hungry lawyers.

Another part of this equation is the government intervention. I believe that it is important for doctors to be involved in the decisions made by our politicians. Many times I see that decisions on healthcare are made by politicians without real doctor input. This leads to mistakes and miscalculations. They think that by talking to doctor representatives they get the whole picture. Well, I find that many of the doctor group representatives are politicians first and then doctors. they do not always represent the best interest of the medical community, or truly understand what is like to practice i the community. to be a business owner and have to deal with the ever increasing bureaucracy. the amount of paperwork is incredible and continues to increase. Even with the electronic medical record implementation, we have to document so much, it is time consuming and increases the cost of medicine, since we have to increase the number of employees in order to comply and continue to take care of patients.

It is harder and harder to just practice medicine and focus on pt care alone. I am deeply concerned with the direction healthcare is taking. we see less and less people wanting to put the years it takes to get to be a doctor (in my case 13) and the debt that one has to also take. In many ways a single payor system seems like the best option to eliminate all the private insurance companies. IT is not a choice that doctors are making, it is a choice that is the best of two evils.

I wish doctors were ask for input on how to run the medical care of this country, after all we are the ones that provide it. We will see where this ends.