Blog and News

Physician “burn-out” is a phenomenon that results from long hours, tremendous stress, and a demanding profession. Job satisfaction has eroded as a result of a myriad of tasks unrelated to patient care. Doctors are distracted by insurance company gamesmanship, government over-regulation, medical liability concerns, forced adoption of cumbersome electronic record systems, and hundreds of other issues which steal valuable time from patients. These aggravations have been accepted by doctors, as a trade-off for the ability to earn a decent living commensurate with the effort expended. Obamacare eliminates the few remaining incentives left for physicians. Patients will not be happy, wondering whether they will find a doctor to get the care that they need. What is bad for doctors will be infinitely worse for patients. 

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I fondly remember going deer hunting with my father and grandfather in Pennsylvania where I grew up. We hardly ever actually killed anything. One deer hunting technique we never used was called “putting on a drive.” You start with a group of hunters at each end of the woods. The first group does the “driving” by walking through the woods making lots of noise. The other group lies hidden at the other end. The first group scares the deer towards the second group for an easy blindside kill. Even if you like hunting it’s not very sportsmanlike. The deer don’t stand a chance. 

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Want real health reform that is in the interest of you and your family? Don't make the same mistake that Washington did. In formulating ObamaCare, the politicians listened to lobbyists, policy wonks, academics, health theorists, regulators, and occasionally to each other. But they failed to listen to the people who actually care for patients: Doctors.  

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There are 600,000 physicians in America who care for the 48 million seniors on Medicare. Of the $716 billion that the Affordable Care Act cuts from the program over the next ten years, the largest chunk—$415 billion—comes from slashing Medicare’s reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes. This significant reduction in fees is driving many doctors to stop accepting new Medicare patients, making it harder for seniors to gain access to needed care. Here are a few of their stories. 

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As physicians face declining third party payments, comply with expensive government mandates such as electronic medical records and attempt to navigate through burdensome government regulations, it is no surprise that more and more physicians are leaving "private practice" and becoming "employees" of large hospital chains. The benefit to doctors is apparent; more predictable hours and no more need to manage a small business in a ever changing healthcare environment. Unfortunately, this consolidation of physicians within powerful hospital chains is actually driving up the cost of healthcare in many communities around the nation.  

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"In truth, prospects are bleak that you will be able to keep your doctor and even bleaker that there will be enough doctors to meet demand under Obamacare. Physicians say they simply won’t practice under Obamacare rules that strip away much of their autonomy, drown them in bureaucracy, and leave them even more exposed to lawsuits". 

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Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal comments on the biggest tragedy of the Affordable Care Act and the one that Docs4PatientCare has been claiming all along; the destruction of the sacred doctor-patient relationship and ultimately, the private practice of medicine.  

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FOX News medical correspndent and practicing internist, Marc Siegel, MD, is a master of explaining things in simple, plain, matter of fact terms. Even as a practicing physician, I find myself watching his broadcasts for their informative, practical content. In this post-SCOTUS opinion, Dr. Siegel provides a glimpse into the future of patient care under the new healthcare law. As we have been predicting for 3 years, expect your insurance costs to skyrocket while quality and service plummet. Dr. Siegel expects he will remain in practice for the long-haul despite the government-imposed obstacles he will need to navigate, however, he predicts many of the nation's doctors may not be so determined to remain involved in patient care. Unfortunately, our patients are the ones hurt most by this healthcare takeover. 

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The American Thinker published a new article on June 30th detailing the comments of a surgeon to his friend (the author). The subject was the surgeon's commentary on ObamaCare which detailed the benefits of a free-market health care system: 

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The Heritage Foundation has put together a summary of why ObamaCare is bad for doctors. In each case, what it bad for doctors is also bad for our patients. Among the reasons ObamaCare is bad for doctors: 

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Despite years of government intrusion in the healthcare market with dozens of schemes to allegedly "save money and improve care" the president, congress and healthcare policy "experts" continue to meddle with complicated proposals that invariably fail on delivering the promised savings and quality.

More troubling is the fact that these new payment methods place hospital administrators in primary control of healthcare and actually make the current situation even worse. Physicians, the most fundamental component of the American healthcare system are relegated to "employee' status and continue to be excluded from the discussion on how to improve quality of care while saving costs.  

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D4PC surgeon, David Cossman, MD, provides a brilliant analysis of the pitfalls in the government's push for hospitals and physicians to implement the electronic medical record(EMR). As part of the PPACA (Obamacare), all physician practices must be EMR "compliant" by 2014. Advances in technology have greatly improved many aspects of our daily lives, however, the current design and function of the EMR is not being well-received by most physicians. Furthermore, as Dr. Cossman explains, the imposition of this technology is having a significant de-humanizing effect on patient care and is likely to reduce subsequent generations of physicians to mere drone-like data entry clerks. 

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Welcome to D4PC "Morning Rounds", your daily review of healthcare news and information from Washington, DC and around the nation. These briefings will keep you up to date on recent developments and our effort to replace the PPACA with patient-centered reforms that protect the doctor-patient relationship and preserve individual freedom of choice.  

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Docs4PatientCare's Dr. Hal Scherz has a new column at Townhall.com discussing whether medical care is a right or a responsibility. Dr. Scherz writes: 

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A majority of Americans want the Supreme Court to strike down ObamaCare's individual mandate (which in turn will cause ObamaCare to collapse). Despite public opposition to ObamaCare, nearly 60% of the public wants Congress to continue to look for solutions to many of America's health care issues. 

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