THE
No politician mentions Health Care without first
proclaiming that the
Too often patients complain that their Primary Care doctor does little other than “write prescriptions and refer me!” It’s true. Procedural practice (removing
splinters, giving allergy shots, suturing wounds, lancing an abscess, removing
ear wax and an assortment of other measures) is no longer included in the
compendium or Primary Practice. This type of
procedural care that can easily be treated in office by a properly
trained “family doctor” is being outsourced to specialists at a rate that has
crippled the system of medical care and adds
100 to 200 Billion Dollars to the annual cost of Health Care.
Fearing litigation too many doctors in Primary Care
have abdicated these procedural obligations in favor of referring and that’s
what the hue and cry for tort reform is all about. High Tech Medical specialists although
practicing under the same sword generally plow ahead, keep doing what they do
best. How come? Because Specialists are protected to a great
extent by the credentialing process that defines the boundaries of their
practice. An obstetrician delivers babies but does not remove lungs; thoracic
surgeons may remove lungs but dare not do cardiac by-pass. By sticking to the confines of their
specialties, these doctors may be sued if they have a bad outcome but cannot be
accused of trespassing into a specialty in which they have no credentials.
Not so in Primary
Care because the boundaries of office practice in the various Specialties has not been defined, their
limits not set. A Primary Care doctor can’t be credentialed as “doing a little
hematology, some orthopedics, or occasional surgery. Anybody can lance an abscess. A Surgical
Specialist defending a malpractice case about a drained abscess that is
followed by complication resulting in hospitalization can answer the question “Doctor when did you get you Specialty Boards In
Surgery?”
But put the
Primary Care doctor in the place of the surgeon:
“Doctor did
you every give an allergy shot?”
“yes.”
“Did you ever interpret an electrocardiogram?”
“Yes.”
“Do you generally remove wax from ears, or have you
every punctured an ear drum to relieve purulent otitis media?”
“yes”
“Dr. have you ever splinted or taped a severe ankle
sprain?”
“Of course”
“Dr. Have you ever performed a Pap Smear?”
“Sure every day.”
Dr. when did you
pass your Specialty Board tests and get credentialed in each of these
specialties?”
“Oh but they are
part of my job. That’s what I do. I am a doctor!”
“Oh really? Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury we have before us
an ‘all-in-one’ doctor, who believes s/he can be all things to all patients; a
cardiologist, a surgeon, a gynecologist, an ear nose and throat specialist, an
orthopedic doctor without having passed a single test in these specialties---“.
So the natural consequences of litigation threats is
for Primary Care doctors to retreat and refer all of the above to respective
“specialists” an allergist; a cardiologist an ear nose and throat doctor; an
orthopod; a gynecologist, and others, converting a $50 bill into a series of
$1,000 dollar bills—because Specialists also wary of malpractice attacks dare
not proceed without supplemental laboratory and x-ray studies. The costs of referrals caused by the fear of
possible litigation are exponential.
Robust Primary Care Practice is the key to taming the
system and its costs but only after Primary Care practice is replicated as
consistently from doctor to doctor as the specialties are consistently and
uniformly practiced. And only the Federal Government as an employer has the
muscle to successfully bring this to pass. The vehicle in which the Federal
Government can bring this about is present in the form of a Public Option that
President Truman established in the late 1940s and President Johnson deployed
in 1967: namely the Primary Care Centers of
The Template for re-configuring Primary Care Practice
is the “Primary Care Centers of
As Government employees these physicians are
protected to a great extent by the FTCA (Federal Tort Claims Act) that
designates the office of the Attorney General of the
100,000 of these Centers throughout the Country could
be created at the cost of $300 billion dispensed over a three to five year
period. Annual maintenance costs to the government of $3 million each center
would be at least halved by the fact that the Centers are entrepreneurial, see
patients at fees from zero to infinity according to tax bracket. In other words
an optional pay-as-you-go system displaying marketplace predilection. Thus
instead of forcing young citizens into the Health Care system, provide them
with Assured pay as you go Primary Care. Thus a person recently unemployed
would pay lower fees than s/he had heretofore.
The advantages:
The
Present Health Care system would remain intact with but modest changes
Centers
could (perhaps) be established by proclamation and appropriation thus avoiding
Congressional conflict
Assure
every citizen or preferably everyone in America) optional but available
comprehensive Primary Care Medicine
Utilization
optional
High
Tech Medicine still insured through HMOs
Term
Hospital and catastrophic care insurance becomes available at affordable fees
Decongest
Emergency Rooms (save money)
Reduce
insurance costs for individuals, families and enterprise
Liability
insurance for the Medical Staffs of these Centers would be negotiated per
Center by the Federal Government
Provide
one million or so jobs