Advertising NPs as "the same as MDs" is highly unethical and health systems should be called out on it. If a patient is in a major metro area, hopefully they look around and go see someone else (an actual MD pediatric cardiologist) that can see them sooner. Funny (actually, not funny) how I needed to add the "MD" in there. Who would have ever thought that when using the term "cardiologist" that would be necessary.
Nps advertise themselves as better than physicians.
Health systems actively promote equivalence. They see physicians and midlevels as interchangeable cogs who provide a service which is billed. There is no incentive to acknowledge one billable asset is inferior to the other, quite the opposite. They actively promote the idea that one should not acknowledge a physicians superior knowledge/ability, doing so would be rude and against a team healthcare culture, one’s experience cannot be objectively compared to anothers. This culture is good for business and ensures they only need to retain the minimum amount of physicians to keep the department and other midlevels afloat.
When will physicians get some backbone and collectively bargain and / or use their money to lobby for stronger restrictions on what NP's can do and to put restrictions on how they can be utilized, identified, promoted, etc. ? I know doctors are cheap, and the senior ones don't want to rock the boat, and of course the new ones have loans to worry about.....but geez, have some respect for your profession and defend it.
That should be illegal if they're actually documenting this falsehood on websites or in literature. In what world is an NP better than a physician ? Cheaper, yes. Better ? The public is so gullible / ignorant.
Ummm... no one in an ivory tower counts cash...
Exactly. You hit the nail on the head. Where are the established physicians in all of this ? I don't think I've ever seen a professional group so lackadaisical about the future of their trade. Where is the collective bargaining effort, the intense / aggressive lobbying ? For goodness sake, physicians are the brains of the whole operation and yet they allow their profession to be undermined and treated like crap.I reference this:
American Board Of Pediatrics Inc - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica
Since 2013, the IRS has released data culled from millions of nonprofit tax filings. Use this database to find organizations and see details like their executive compensation, revenue and expenses, as well as download tax filings going back as far as 2001.projects.propublica.org
ABP literally just slapped every pediatrician in the face by pushing PHM to become a fellowship, and yet here their executives are making almost 3x what a practicing PHM doc makes (My home institution starts PHM docs at 150k). This push was a boon to hospitals + will ultimately lead to more midlevels being employed in the hospital.
These guys are literally making money and just pushing extra busy work on practicing docs. So I do think these guys are counting $$$ while not seeing patients and just making the life of pediatricians harder.
Honest question here.....why do insurance companies / medicare reimburse NP service at the same dollar level as an MD ? I'm assuming they do and that's what provides the financial incentive for the health systems to use NP's.
The AAP has been historically weak in lobbying for pediatricians and proper reimbursement. Poor leadership. Same for the ABP - fleecing its members and doing next to nothing for us. At least you don't have the join the AAP; good luck getting a good job without being board certified.
Who decides who leads the AAP and ABP ? Aren't they elected by the physician membership they represent ? If so, why don't physicians install people / doctors that aggressively support their profession ?
But are they "elected" by the physician membership ? If so, the physician population needs to collectively nominate suitable candidates and then vote them in. I go back to lackadaisical behavior on the part of the profession. Or maybe I just don't understand. Seems simple though.
