The profession of medicine is one of empathy, compassion, applied science, and skill. For many, the practice of medicine has devolved to a daily struggle against vast armies of insurances, barbaric electronic medical records, and administration that fancies themselves gods.
The vast armies of insurance – During my first 6 months of private practice, insurance credentialing took place. The first in a line of administrative and clerical tasks to actually carry out my profession. Upon defeating the first onslaught, a respite followed where I was able to take care of patients. The battles were far from over as denial letters rained from the sky. I continued to practice in the shade of falling faxes (archaic as they are) shielded only by my personal resilience. As the immortal prior authorization requests were sliced through, my patients began to benefit. Months after their visit, they were finally receiving proper care. Not because their provider failed them but the insurances they paid for, were refusing to provide the services that were promised.
Barbaric Health Records – The glorious electronic health record that was meant to bring us out of the dark ages of paper has yet to arrive to the masses. Millions of dollars spent to implement a tool that works only to enslave and oppress. The barbaric health record drags shackles of manually typing, importing labs/rads/consults, and entering codes upon codes to appease the armies that they serve. The wretched electronic health record is as useful as a word processor, spreadsheet, and cash register. This is a barrier to care as it tries to suck the life from the physician and the money from the patient.
Administration that fancy themselves gods – Work smarter not harder, see more patients, we modified your scheduled, maximize your satisfaction scores, etc are words uttered to physicians often without context. The MBA hanging on the wall as a status of business acumen passed down from the gods themselves to rule over all that is medicine. Without the physician and the patients, there is no business to oversee. The mortal chill running down their spines at this fact should be humbling, but often backfires and emboldens their stance. Bow before your god-king.
Many have fallen pray to this story. Physician suicide rates are alarming, over 50% of physicians are burnt out (having lost their connection to the profession of medicine, living day to day to reach retirement), others and leaving medicine all together. The victim shaming that comes from our peers is a real thing. “Keep working, look today is a little better than last year. Look at our progress.” In the end, the few will stand against many. Though I hope that we will be standing triumphant against the hordes rather than laying full of arrows as was the fate of the brave, free, 300.
Revolutionary Healthcare PLLC 