One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits.
The other 75 percent are ordering unnecessary tests because they think it is protocol. You see, over time what was once considered defensive medicine became protocol after so many physicians began doing it.
“… One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits.”
President Obama and Congress are guilty of legislative malpractice for failing to include tort reform in their Rube Goldbergesque health care “reform” bill. When everyone else is asked to make sacrifices for the sake of “reform,” why do trial lawyers get a free pass?
re: “One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits”
This is what Atul Gawande wrote in the June 1, 2009 issue of The New Yorker on why McAllen Texas cost Medicare twice the national average for each patient.
““It’s malpractice,” a family physician who had practiced here for thirty-three years said.
“McAllen is legal hell,” the cardiologist agreed. Doctors order unnecessary tests just to protect themselves, he said. Everyone thought the lawyers here were worse than elsewhere.
That explanation puzzled me. Several years ago, Texas passed a tough malpractice law that capped pain-and-suffering awards at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Didn’t lawsuits go down?
“Practically to zero,” the cardiologist admitted.
“Come on,” the general surgeon finally said. “We all know these arguments are *****. There is overutilization here, pure and simple.” Doctors, he said, were racking up charges with extra tests, services, and procedures.”
I think I have said this before at this blog. Gawande didn’t understnd what is happening in McAllen. This is a poor border town, where there is little private insurance and Medicaid rates are dirt cheap. Since Medicare is the only payer there, providers shift as much of the cost to Medicare as they can. But overall costs in McAllen are not all that high.
John sez: “Gawande didn’t understand what is happening in McAllen”
Although you’re the proud parent of the Health Savings Account, for my money I’ll take the judgement of a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a distinguished practicing physician over yours. But that’s a matter of taste. I would recommend that everyone read (or reread) the article and make their own judgments. I included the link. He looked at both commercial insurance and Medicare date. From what he’s described, it’s not a matter of cost shifting, it’s physician owned hospitals and labs and imaging centers so that every test and admissions, needed or not, enrich the physicians. Unlike John, I don’t think that all civil servants are evil; the market is perfect and pure; and all doctors are totally altruistic and immune to the temptations mammon.
All civil servants are evil? Hmmmmmmmm. artk, you are confusing me with Paul Krugman. A consistent theme of all the contributions to this blog is that our problems are not due to people — in or out of government — having the wrong motives. Our problems arise because people face perverse incentives. And yes that includes doctors in McAllen Texas.
I know some adult ADHD adults. I’ve had several as emplyess.
I bet if you did a correlation of sugar consumption and population abesity, you would get a close fit.
One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits.
The other 75 percent are ordering unnecessary tests because they think it is protocol. You see, over time what was once considered defensive medicine became protocol after so many physicians began doing it.
“… One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits.”
President Obama and Congress are guilty of legislative malpractice for failing to include tort reform in their Rube Goldbergesque health care “reform” bill. When everyone else is asked to make sacrifices for the sake of “reform,” why do trial lawyers get a free pass?
re: “One-in-four doctors admit to ordering unnecessary tests to protect themselves against potential lawsuits”
This is what Atul Gawande wrote in the June 1, 2009 issue of The New Yorker on why McAllen Texas cost Medicare twice the national average for each patient.
““It’s malpractice,” a family physician who had practiced here for thirty-three years said.
“McAllen is legal hell,” the cardiologist agreed. Doctors order unnecessary tests just to protect themselves, he said. Everyone thought the lawyers here were worse than elsewhere.
That explanation puzzled me. Several years ago, Texas passed a tough malpractice law that capped pain-and-suffering awards at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Didn’t lawsuits go down?
“Practically to zero,” the cardiologist admitted.
“Come on,” the general surgeon finally said. “We all know these arguments are *****. There is overutilization here, pure and simple.” Doctors, he said, were racking up charges with extra tests, services, and procedures.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all#ixzz0l75chZ4w
I think I have said this before at this blog. Gawande didn’t understnd what is happening in McAllen. This is a poor border town, where there is little private insurance and Medicaid rates are dirt cheap. Since Medicare is the only payer there, providers shift as much of the cost to Medicare as they can. But overall costs in McAllen are not all that high.
John sez: “Gawande didn’t understand what is happening in McAllen”
Although you’re the proud parent of the Health Savings Account, for my money I’ll take the judgement of a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a distinguished practicing physician over yours. But that’s a matter of taste. I would recommend that everyone read (or reread) the article and make their own judgments. I included the link. He looked at both commercial insurance and Medicare date. From what he’s described, it’s not a matter of cost shifting, it’s physician owned hospitals and labs and imaging centers so that every test and admissions, needed or not, enrich the physicians. Unlike John, I don’t think that all civil servants are evil; the market is perfect and pure; and all doctors are totally altruistic and immune to the temptations mammon.
Adults with ADHD are worse than kids. At least you can tell kids to use their “inside voices.”
All civil servants are evil? Hmmmmmmmm. artk, you are confusing me with Paul Krugman. A consistent theme of all the contributions to this blog is that our problems are not due to people — in or out of government — having the wrong motives. Our problems arise because people face perverse incentives. And yes that includes doctors in McAllen Texas.