It was certainly an unfortunate (and erroneous) statement on it's face. What he meant, he was "if you're doctor participates with an ACA compliant plan, you can keep your doctor." Essentially, the ACA didn't take away your doctor it was the plan that did. One can validly argue chicken and egg here, but it's not like Obama sat there laughing and breaking up physician-patient relationships.
Few persevere with such dedication through such adversity. I only hope for continued success.
I am, for better or worse.
Immunology is fascinating field and I thoroughly enjoy it on an academic level. I would suspect there's A LOT to be done on the research side which could lead to major revolutions in treatment.
You hit the nail on the head. I find that Family Physicians are frequently participating in "direct care primary care" models due to the demographics of their patient panels, and I can appreciate the flexibility and increased pay it offers. I would also love the ability to spend as much (or little) time with a patient as necessary. Unfortunately, though, I find that the model leaves the sick out to dry. Very good model for younger/healthier people who do not have significant health care needs, much less ideal for the socioeconomically disadvantaged or ill. The model certainly has benefits and fills a need, but I just don't personally care for the type of panel that fits that need.
I actually love EPIC, but I'm a computer nerd who has posted on AT for coming up on 17 years.
Unfortunately, IT in Healthcare is notoriously abysmal and physicians are poorly (on average) computer literate. That is changing as the demographics of physicians change so I expect it will get better. EPIC is a wonderful tool, but we are doing a very poor job of utilizing that tool and keeping it sharp. I see so many of my colleagues utilizing only 10-15% of what EPIC can do such that it becomes more of a hindrance than a help.
lol, right you are.
My BIL is an orthopedic surgeon and brilliant/wonderful guy, he would have been a great internist as well had he the desire. We have a good time over cracking the typical ortho "jock" and medicine "nerd" jokes. I couldn't agree with your points more. I was briefly trying to choose between Critical Care and Primary Care and chose the latter simply because I wanted to see my patients while they were awake. Thinking is a wonderful job requirement and I try to impress upon our residents that the "tool" of an internist is his or her mind, a tool that we need to work on sharpening regularly.
The dean of my medical school, on the day of my interview, spoke to the group at large and part of his speech was that "You'll never be poor as a doctor, so don't ever let that worry you." He was absolutely right. With that said, the days of what traditionally think of as the "doctor life" are over outside of a few subspecialties/surgical specialties. Medical school costs have risen dramatically, and reimbursement/payment has fallen significantly. My wife and I share roughly 550k in student debt just from medical school. She lived at home with her parents during school, and I lived on 30k a year, so we weren't exactly spending frivolously. It's just a reality. Now certainly we can make my loan payments (which are reduced to be commensurate to our household income), save for retirement, each own a car, and live comfortably in our small apartment with an occasional vacation, but it's not quite what it used to be. With regard to vacation days, I just put in my vacation requests like anyone else and haven't had issues taking the time. I'm not sure why you think simply being employed by a hospital means I'm not allowed to go on vacation?
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