Rebutting AMA, Doctors Speak Out In Support Of A ‘Robust Public Option’

[babylonsister]

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/12/dfa-public-plan/

Rebutting AMA, Doctors Speak Out In Support Of A ‘Robust Public Option’


snip//

But some doctors have distanced themselves from the AMA’s statements. Doctors For America (DFA) — grassroots organization of doctors in all fifty states — issued a statement and hosted a conference call in support of a robust public option. Unlike the AMA, which has been steadily loosing power and currently represents “maybe 20% of physicians in this country,” DFA is “a grassroots organization” putting forth the views of “thousands of physicians” rather than “a small group of organizers.”

For these doctors, payment reform that prioritizes care quality and patient access to affordable coverage supersedes the issue of provider reimbursement. “What concerns physicians more than are they being paid enough is really what they’re being paid for,” DFA President Vivek Murthy explained:

You know, right now we have a system that rewards volume and procedures and doesn’t necessarily reward quality of care or the time that physicians take to spend with their patients. I think what’s a priority for all physicians—whether they’re a generalist, whether a specialist, whether academic physicians or private physicians—is that we restructure payment in a way that does reward quality and does reward time spent with patients, and that’s the kind of system that we’d be willing to support.

Listen at link~

Indeed, unlike a co-op or some kind of state based arrangement, a robust public option would not only drive down costs but also begin implementing payment system reforms that could help doctors deliver better care to their patients.

[DCKit]

1. One thing that's stuck with me very strongly since I watched "Sicko"...

was the doctor who said (and I paraphrase) "I don't worry about the billing or fighting with insurance companies. I treat my patients, get paid a good salary and spend time with my family."

If nothing else, that should have been all most U.S. doctors had to hear before abandoning the U.S.S. Corporate Insurance.