THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 16, 1995 TAG: 9509160019
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
Included in the mail on my desk this morning was yet another insurance-company missive describing a new set of hoops through which my patients and I must pass before a care plan is approved. This one was particularly galling, since it insulted not only my professionalism but my intelligence as well by stating that my peers were requesting the intervention and that my patients would want it.
It appears that my years of exper-ience and the informed consent of my valued patients will be second-guessed by computers, somewhere in a large corporate setting, using software generated by the Rand Corp. (read ``cookbook medicine'').
This is just the tip of the iceberg. These intrusions on medical practice are not there to benefit the patients or the doctors. Their sole purpose is to create a fatter bottom line for the entities in the health-care world that do not provide care. Rest assured, if any lawsuits arise from withheld care or early discharge, the insurance brokers will blithely feign ignorance and head for the hills, as the nurses and doctors are left to defend themselves.
Make no mistake about it. Patients and physicians are being penalized, while insurance and hospital consortiums are making record profits. Overall, the amount of money spent on health care is about the same, but the health-care providers are seeing considerable losses secondary to decreased reimbursements coupled with an increase in overhead mandated by these intrusive measures. Physicians are selected and de-selected without regard to their talents in the science and art of medicine. Hospitals continue to reduce the nursing staffs, while the number of salaried paper-pushers grows larger and larger. The patients' choices are being severely limited, with no relief in sight.
The health-care system was not broken when I became a physician, but I fear that these parasites in three-piece suits, abetted by a few Judas goats in white coats, are looting the finest medical-care system in the world. I hope that the people of this country and their doctors can unite against these forces before it is too late.
NEWTON B. MILLER, M.D.
Norfolk, Aug. 23, 1995 by CNB