Occupation: M.D.
I believe that the biggest problem in healthcare today is that primary care physicians are being paid only to triage the patient to a specialist, when in fact family physicians and internists can treat 80% of those problems without a specialist. Of course, when a specialist gets a patient, they do what they were trained to do which is to perform a diagnostic procedure. The HMO’s paying PCP’s on a capitation basis is to blame for this shift in healthcare. If PCP’s are paid for their time for example $ 75 for a 15 minute visit with the patient face to face, I am certain that you would see a huge reduction in specialists consultations and unnecessary procedures. Legally prohibiting capitation is the single most effective method in lowering healthcare costs. This is an opinion. I believe the second most cost effective measure to lower healthcare cost is to mandate electronic medical records for Medicare reimbursement. With each Medicare CMS 1500 there should be an electronic H & P or Progress Note to document that the care was provided. By setting up an nationwide, online, realtime health information system available to all providers taking care of patients, there will be a huge reduction of costs in duplication of diagnostic testing. All of these are simply opinions.