Skip to main content

Does American Health Care Need Reform?

Image
By

There is extraordinary medical care being practiced in the United States.  While medical breakthroughs do not occur linearly, there is a clear forward trend of progress.  Naturally, there are setbacks and failures which are learning opportunities in medicine as they are in life.  My own medical journals are increasingly populated with studies examining the use of artificial intelligence.  Endoscopic scope journals present examples of technical wizardry which only years ago would have been thought to be science fiction.   Sooner than we imagine, medicine will be offering widespread personalized or precision medicine when treatments will be customized according to a patient’s genetic profile.   Up to now, most of our treatments follow a one-size-fits-all model which is already recognized as a clumsy tool.  Ten patients might both have rheumatoid arthritis, for example, but these genetically unique individuals would likely benefit from tailored therapies.

But despite the monumental progress, there remain flaws and failures in our health care system that have yet to be solved. Here are a few challenges to consider.


Medical Care in America
Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

  • Health care is a right.  Why are there still folks without medical insurance or adequate insurance?
  • Why should a medicine prescribed by a medical professional for a sick patient not be covered?
  • Why does access for patients to medical professionals remain so limited?  I personally know many physicians who are booked out for months.  Sick patients seeking appointments will be advised to seek care in an urgent care or an emergency room, both of which are inferior to a visit with one’s primary care physician.
  • Physician burnout has become an epidemic within the profession which demoralizes practitioners, strains doctor-patient relationships and results in doctors retiring prematurely.  We are not doing enough to deliver relief to caregivers.
  • There is a national nursing shortage.  This is a direct attack on patient care. The solution?  How about improving their working conditions and compensation?
  • Why can’t there be a universal electronic medical record (EMR)?  Does it make sense that one EMR cannot communicate with another?
  • The inequities in medical care fall disproportionately on underserved and minority communities.
  • Overdiagnosis and overtreatment, a frequent target of this blog, is rampant.  This burns up resources and harms patients.

The great challenge is to continue to forge ahead on the wings of science and innovation while also committing to correct the persistent flaws and failures in the system, which should be solvable.  For this to happen requires that all of us including the public be willing to give up something in order to serve the greater good.  Can I count on you?

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Should Doctors Retire?

By
I am asked with some regularity whether I am aiming to retire in the near term.  Years ago, I never received such inquiries.  Why now?   Might it be because my coiffure and goatee – although finely-manicured – has long entered the gray area?  Could it be because many other even younger physicians have given up their stethoscopes for lives of leisure? (Hopefully, my inquiring patients are not suspecting me of professional performance lapses!) Interestingly, a nurse in my office recently approached me and asked me sotto voce that she heard I was retiring.    “Interesting,” I remarked.   Since I was unaware of this retirement news, I asked her when would be my last day at work.   I have no idea where this erroneous rumor originated from.   I requested that my nurse-friend contact her flawed intel source and set him or her straight.   Retirement might seem tempting to me as I have so many other interests.   Indeed, reading and studying, two longstanding personal pleasures, could be ext
69 comments
Read more

Should Doctors Wear White Coats?

By
Many professions can be easily identified by their uniforms or state of dress. Consider how easy it is for us to identify a policeman, a judge, a baseball player, a housekeeper, a chef, or a soldier.  There must be a reason why so many professions require a uniform.  Presumably, it is to create team spirit among colleagues and to communicate a message to the clientele.  It certainly doesn’t enhance professional performance.  For instance, do we think if a judge ditches the robe and is wearing jeans and a T-shirt, that he or she cannot issue sage rulings?  If members of a baseball team showed up dressed in comfortable street clothes, would they commit more errors or achieve fewer hits?  The medical profession for most of its existence has had its own uniform.   Male doctors donned a shirt and tie and all doctors wore the iconic white coat.   The stated reason was that this created an aura of professionalism that inspired confidence in patients and their families.   Indeed, even today
43 comments
Read more

The VIP Syndrome Threatens Doctors' Health

By
Over the years, I have treated various medical professionals from physicians to nurses to veterinarians to optometrists and to occasional medical residents in training. Are these folks different from other patients?  Are there specific challenges treating folks who have a deep knowledge of the medical profession?   Are their unique risks to be wary of when the patient is a medical professional? First, it’s still a running joke in the profession that if a medical student develops an ordinary symptom, then he worries that he has a horrible disease.  This is because the student’s experience in the hospital and the required reading are predominantly devoted to serious illnesses.  So, if the student develops some constipation, for example, he may fear that he has a bowel blockage, similar to one of his patients on the ward.. More experienced medical professionals may also bring above average anxiety to the office visit.  Physicians, after all, are members of the human species.  A pulmon
8 comments
Read more