Re: Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report -- Escalating Costs,
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Wed Jul 25 11:50:52 2001
Dean -
what do you think the solution is? i know you simply left but for many,
it's not so simple. MA is not alone - maybe just ahead of the curve.
art
At Wed, 25 Jul 2001, Dean Huffman wrote:
>
>..
>
>[Editorial note: this is why I decided to leave Massachusetts in the first
>place. I took a felowship in MFM. I miss Great Barrington, Massachusetts,
>but have never regretted closing my practice there. Dean Huffman]
>
>KAISER DAILY HEALTH POLICY REPORT
>A free service of kaisernetwork.org
>http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hpolicy.cfm
> ________________________________________
>
> ________________________________________
>HEALTH CARE MARKETPLACE
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>Escalating Costs, Administrative Hassles Could 'Drive' Doctors from
>Massachusetts
>
>Massachusetts' rising costs and a difficult health care "environment" could
>"drive" doctors from the state and "erode" patients' access to care,
>according to a report released July 23 from the Massachusetts Medical
>Society. The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that for the seventh
>consecutive year, the society announced that the "economic conditions" for
>the state's practicing physicians have declined. James Howell, president of
>the Howell Group, the consulting firm that conducted the study for the
>medical society, said the "clearest signs" of trouble for doctors are
>"rising housing prices, escalating malpractice insurance rates" and an
>increase in the number of "doctors wanted" advertisements in the New
>England Journal of Medicine, from 1,238 in 1997 to 2,040 last year. Also,
>the median costs for doctors to hire nurses and other workers rose about
>20% between 1994 and 2000, while supply costs increased about 58% during
>the same time period. In determining the economic forecast, the report also
>examined the number of physicians older than 55 and the hours spent caring
>for patients, which both increased. Dr. Francis Rockett, president of the
>medical society, said, "As a group, physician practices are struggling
>because the environment in which they operate is more difficult than ever
>before. And as a result, patients' access to good health care is more at
>risk than ever before." The Gazette reports that there are "few obvious
>solutions" for policymakers to consider to alleviate the situation.
>However, the medical society is pushing legislators for "higher
>reimbursements" from health plans and government programs, standardization
>of claim forms and "less contact" with health plans. "We've got to get some
>relief from the administrative burdens that have been placed on physician
>practices," Rockett said. The Gazette also reports that the state's health
>care system as a whole has "experienced similar problems," as hospitals
>lost $200 million caring for Medicaid patients in 1999 and nursing homes
>lost $236 million last year (Eckelbecker, Worcester Telegram & Gazette,
>7/24). The medical society report is available online.
--
art fougner, md
A series of 1000 cases begins with but a single anecdote.
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