The most important thing my father said to me about work was "It doesn't take a genius to be a good doctor; it just takes enough guts to keep getting up and doing the right thing". It's not hard to know that when a nurse calls at 3 a.m. and says a baby "doesn't look right", the proper thing to do is to get out of bed and go look at the baby. The difference between a bad doctor and a good doctor is how many times you can keep doing that. It's obvious that when an insurance company (or Medicare) denies your patient care that you think is needed, the right thing to do is call till you get someone you can argue with and get your patient the care he needs. It doesn't matter if that is the first time or the thousandth time you have had to make that call, or how long it takes to get someone.
Do you see that problem with this? To be a good doctor, you have to fight the bureaucracy, and they will make it longer and harder and as miserable as they can. What do you do? Do you hold to your principles and spend your entire life fighting with bureaucrats rather than seeing patients? Or do you compromise and become less and less of a "good doctor"? Or do you stop practicing and decide not to be a doctor at all if you can't be a good one?
So, in our system, who is left as the doctor you count on?
Do you see that problem with this? To be a good doctor, you have to fight the bureaucracy, and they will make it longer and harder and as miserable as they can. What do you do? Do you hold to your principles and spend your entire life fighting with bureaucrats rather than seeing patients? Or do you compromise and become less and less of a "good doctor"? Or do you stop practicing and decide not to be a doctor at all if you can't be a good one?
So, in our system, who is left as the doctor you count on?
