Put Patients First

The health care reform debate continues even as the economy continues to falter. We will bring you the best of the commentary and our own take on some of the more pressing issues as this important dialogue continues.

Here, a physician from Fort Collins weighs in:

I am a board-certified family physician who has been practicing medicine in Fort Collins for the past 16 years. I have recently been solicited by a private for-profit company to turn my practice into a concierge model (where a select "rich" group pays an additional fee - in addition to insurance - to be my patients).

What they didn't say is that 90 percent to 95 percent of my current patients would not qualify/afford/choose this "elite practice."

In the new practice I would have to "dedicate" my services to the new select group of patients and reduce the number of patients I care for to approximately one-third of my current enrollment.

The truth is that this for-profit concierge model will increase my revenue and reduce my workload. However, despite having more money and time, I would not be able to live with the "new" Carroll since, to me, being a physician is more than just a way to make money. I have never compromised my professionalism to make more money.

Don't get me wrong, I do feel underpaid as a primary care physician, but I will never be able to replace the feeling I get in helping my patients (especially those who need my care the most - the poor and under/uninsured). I get so much more from my work than a paycheck, and I will not compromise that process, even if I lose money. Compassion is what defines us as human beings.

Our current health-care system is highly discriminatory. If you are old, you get Medicare; the severely impoverished get Medicaid; rich or lucky to have a job with benefits get private insurance and the rest - 47 million - get nothing.

This discrimination is in the same country with a world respected Bill of Rights and Constitution. How can we allow so many of our neighbors to suffer when the resources are there to provide the best care to all our citizens?

What angers me the most is that the money we spend in our current system is more than enough to cover all our citizens. Financing of health care in America doesn't need a bailout, just a redistribution of the money.

I am convinced that our health-care system can be the best in the world - for all our citizens - if we comprehensively reform our financing system. The solution is not more for-profit companies and a race to the bank. We need to put patients above profit and reform our system to be one that truly delivers health rather than taking advantage of disease.

My practice delivers the best medicine that I know and I feel strongly that my practice delivers "concierge" service to all my patients despite their lack of a "membership card." I am the one that thanks them for their confidence and for allowing me to be a part of their and their families' lives.

The World Health Organization currently ranks the U.S. as 37th. We're not even in the Top 10. This is unconscionable. How would we react if the United States was 37th in the Olympics?

The time is now for us to reform our health-care system by removing discrimination and allow all of our citizens' access to medical care and move the U.S. from 37th to first in the world ranking of health care.

Health CEOs Unite for Health Reform

The San Francisco Chronicle includes an open forum op-ed today co-written by Lloyd H. Dean, president/chief executive officer of Catholic Healthcare West, and Bruce Bodaken, chairman and chief executive officer of Blue Shield of California.

In the piece, Dean and Bodaken say that there is renewed hope for healthcare reform in the U.S. because President-elect Barack Obama, congressional leaders and a growing number of business and provider groups continue to acknowledge the urgency and importance of providing health coverage to everyone, despite the alarming economic problems facing the country.

The two CEOs announced that they have joined the New America Foundation in launching a coalition of health care CEOs who recognize that business as usual is not sustainable, and who are willing to take risks to achieve universal coverage with lower long-term costs.

“We do not underestimate the size of the challenge that transforming our health care system requires,” they write. “There are many competing interests at the table, and the economic crisis is too severe to believe this will be an easy task.” They note that the national momentum for health-care reform can succeed, but it will require the key players in the health care system to take risks and make compromises to be part of the solution.

The full press release on the formation of the group is here. Check out their goals and principles:

Principles
Members of Health CEOs for Healthcare Reform (HC4HR) believe in the following three principles:

1. Health reform is an urgent priority for our nation and should not be postponed. 
2. Meaningful health reform entails quality, affordable health coverage for all and delivery system reform. This will require all stakeholders to move away from “business as usual.” 
3. A more sustainable health system will require all health care stakeholders to offer and accept changes to their business models as part of a catalytic package that will better serve everyone.

Goals and Mission
HC4HR will demonstrate to the policy community and the American people that health industry CEOs and physicians are willing to be proactive leaders in calling for transformative reforms of our health system. These reforms include quality, affordable coverage for all and significant restructuring of our health care delivery system. 

HC4HR will not protect outdated business models. Instead, it will work with lawmakers to identify policy solutions that meet the long-term goals of comprehensive health reform in a way that is operational and practical for health care leaders.   

HC4HR will capitalize on its relationships with affinity organizations to nurture physician and stakeholder leadership. HC4HR’s members will lead through example and encourage like-minded health care visionaries to join in their cause.

Obama Seeks Your Input

President-elect Barack Obama has repeatedly said that we cannot hope to fix our nation's economic crisis without addressing healthcare reform. In choosing former Sen. Tom Daschle to head the health reform effort Obama has signaled that he still intends to make this issue an important part of his term.

And according to the Los Angeles Times, he's now asking for your input:

The plan -- asking Americans to host meetings to talk about reform -- appears designed to avoid the appearance that the new administration is developing a sweeping agenda behind closed doors.

Some 10,000 people, many of them already involved in grass-roots efforts to push healthcare reform, have submitted comments on the website, according to Daschle.

The Obama team's maneuver builds on organizing techniques pioneered by liberal grass-roots groups like MoveOn.org and deployed by Obama during the presidential campaign.

It also reinforces the message that Obama has delivered since his election, that he intends to take aggressive steps to tackle the issue despite the worsening economic situation.