It should take much less time and money to become a doctor than the current status quo. We don't have to look too far - most OECD countries have a much easier path to becoming a doctor, with significantly lower prices and better population outcomes.
1,196 karma · joined May 14, 2019
1. Restricting scope of practice for NPs and other midlevels
2. Restricting new facilities through Certificates of Need
3. Restricting immigration of foreign medical professionals from OECD countries through NCFMEA
4. Increasing costs & duration of medical education
5. Restricting patient's ability to obtain their open record digitally with the purpose of switching providers, or taking control of their health (good luck getting your imaging data from Kaiser if you ever want to leave them and seek better alternatives)
6. Restricting OTC availability of simple drugs available without doctor middlemen in other OECD countries
7. Restricting development of AI systems through data BAAs
8. Restricting scope and speed of processing for de novo and breakthru devices that automate work performed by physicians
None of these have a valid patient safety counter-argument because essentially in every case there is a precedent of safe operation in other OECD countries.
Other honorable mentions include:
1. Fighting against surprise billing legislation
2. Fighting against government's ability to negotiate rates
3. Fighting against public option
4. Fighting against any mention of moving away from fee-for-service
[1] https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2019-international-compen...
Sad to see 180 senseless deaths like this.
They are just much nicer to use than some alternatives.
> The feds say they believe the Chinese government may be behind the theft of biological research specimens from a Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center lab involving a Harvard University-sponsored Chinese student.
Debatable - capitalism took 7 billion people out of extreme poverty, eradicated diseases, improved literacy, decreased child mortality, and increase life expectancy. All thanks to companies maximizing profits while abiding by the democratically enacted laws.
Rate of growth slower than expected, according the the article.
They've been successfully pushing back against scope of practice changes for RAs, PAs, ANPs, PTs and other midlevels, let alone allowing foreign doctors in without an expensive residency medallion. And on the data side, hospitals are doing all they can to make sure that is as locked down in their silos as possible, because all these AI papers have been posing a fundamental threat to their bottom line (Medicare and employer reimbursement for physician and related services).
Basically every single decision-making regulatory body on state and Federal levels is full of MDs, with inherent conflict of interest.
Now new FDA chief is an old-school MD again, and his first order of business was to call a conference studying the potential dangers AI can pose to patient safety.
Especially 3D US - so far it's mostly been used for "cosmetic" purposes of getting a 3D picture of your baby. There hasn't been much clinical evidence to its usefulness from what I can tell.
https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-07-03/...
Amid Provider Shortage, California Doctors Oppose Expanding Nurse Practitioner Abilities
https://thedo.osteopathic.org/2018/10/dos-help-defeat-bills-...
As APRNs and nurse-midwives ramp up their efforts to practice independently, DOs are fighting back.
https://www.kcur.org/post/nurse-practitioners-try-shake-free...
As Nurse Practitioners Try To Shake Free Of Doctors, Kansas Physicians Resist
https://www.wabe.org/bid-to-loosen-rules-on-mid-level-provid...
But the vote for recommending the imaging change was 3-2 in favor, with two physicians on the panel, Sens. Ben Watson (R-Savannah) and Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta), voting against.
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/whod-a-thunk-it-a-medical-car...
the American Academy of Pediatrics declared that retail health clinics are “an inappropriate source of primary care for pediatric patients, as they fragment medical care and are detrimental to the medical home concept of longitudinal and coordinated care.”
https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2017/10/25/doctors-sal...
https://fee.org/articles/the-medical-cartel-is-keeping-healt...
https://www.modernhealthcare.com/patients/surprise-medical-b...
Stanford University researchers found that from 2010 through 2016, 39% of 13.6 million trips to the ED at an in-network hospital by privately insured patients resulted in an out-of-network bill. That figure increased during the study period from about a third of ED visits nationwide in 2010 to 42.8% in 2016.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/12/23/7874035...
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/922816
More Than Half of Doctors Get Industry Payments/Meals: Poll
https://revcycleintelligence.com/news/aha-others-to-sue-hhs-...
AHA, Others to Sue HHS Over New Hospital Price Transparency Rule
Roya Fathollahi, MD
Report her to the NY Medical Board and Department of Financial Services
https://www.health.ny.gov/professionals/doctors/conduct/file...
https://www.dfs.ny.gov/consumers/health_insurance/surprise_m...
It's easier politically to blame corporations and whatnot. And it's true - there's plenty of leeching downstream by pharmas, PBMs, hospital admins, device makers, insurance companies, vendors, labs, and many others. But at the base of the supply funnel sit the doctors (and numerous associations like AMA, ACR, ABP, AHA, AAMC, etc) who control the entire supply through licensing and state-level regulations, and are entirely responsible for all of the atrocities. It's effectively a cartel.
There's a reason why any time there's a talk about pro-consumer regulation on the Hill like anti-surprise billing, pro-price transparency, and Medicare for All, each of these association is blasting their members with calls to contact their representatives and resist at all cost. Their argument is easy to understand emotionally - doctors will protect you from the harm, and hence there should be more licensing and supply restrictions. But this is the root of all problems in US healthcare.
That is, if you go to a doctor's office, they can try to collect payment upfront, but if they send you a random bill after the fact without your explicit price consent, it doesn't have to be paid. Similarly to how I can send a bill to y'all for the privilege of reading my post (and justify by saying it took me years of expensive training to obtain this knowledge), but you shouldn't be required to actually pay me, of course.
Emergency medicine OTOH should be socialized - everybody is covered in the US by Medicare. For every emergency admission facility can charge Medicare for all up to $X (say $300 in Kansas and $500 in San Francisco) and have to make do with that money. Patient gets between 0% and 30% copay depending on whether they are trying to abuse the system or came with a legit reason. This is the same as Kaiser today, but on a National scale.
At In-and-out, you don't get any of those things. Not that I don't like I&O - their burgers are great, and I'm sure work environment is better than other fast food companies. But it's just not comparable to Google.
GOOG went from 550 to 1300 under Sundar's term as CEO.