nurses-masquerading-as-doctors

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dingleberry007

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dingleberry007 said:
http://health.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/15/nurses-masquerading-as-doctors/

If you quickly skim the comments section, you'll see nurses commenting in full force. Make your voices heard on the comments section as well! If we are complacent, we deserve what we get!
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God, reading someone say things like that through a real, popular site just made me feel good. Seriously, in the wake of DNPs parading around congress and blabbering on CNN, I didn't know if anyone in the world would stand up and speak the truth. Thank you.
 
Just send him an email
 
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M.Furfur said:
....paralegals don't fight to take the place of lawyers
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No, because the State Bar Associations crush them relentlessly with unauthorized practice of law lawsuits. We must ask the same of our State BOMs.
The trials are already being played out in State Courts regarding pain medicine.
http://www.asahq.org/news/asanews010609.htm

My fear is that it is going to take 1 lawsuit:1 specialty:1 state for every scope case. This is going to be a long, bitter and costly battle...

EDIT: Pain Medicine not pain management
 
Actually, what we should do is try to contact people like this and lobby to get 5-6 docs, residents, and med students from this site onto Fox News or CNN or whatever else. It seems like most of the resistance and passion is coming from members here anyway.
 
IDBasco said:
You haven't spent any time around dentistry, have you?
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Dental mid-levels are actually starting to make a similar push. Check out the dent threads for more details.
 
JaggerPlate said:
Dental mid-levels are actually starting to make a similar push. Check out the dent threads for more details.
Click to expand...

Starting? No. They have wanted to do stuff like extract and fillings for years. Son of a retired dentist speaking here.
 
what we REALLY need is ex-nurses who went to medical school to become real doctors to go on the air and describe how vastly different the two fields are and how medical school truly prepares you to take care of patients on a level that nurses cannot understand unless they go through medical school. Its much easier for the nursing lobby to dismiss some arrogant physician than one of their own who is now is a physician.
 
IDBasco said:
Starting? No. They have wanted to do stuff like extract and fillings for years. Son of a retired dentist speaking here.
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Oh, good to know. I think they are starting to make more progress in doing so now though ... err something. I just remember reading a thread about it in pre-dent or dent a while back.
 
JaggerPlate said:
Oh, good to know. I think they are starting to make more progress in doing so now though ... err something. I just remember reading a thread about it in pre-dent or dent a while back.
Click to expand...

Yeah slowly. The thing is, schools like UW now provide additional education for them. The sad thing about all this stuff is some people want to actully make a bigger impact on patients, but it seems too many want the status and especially income associated with expanded roles. My biggest problem with it is that it reduces quality of care even though it may increase access.
 
EternalMD said:
what we REALLY need is ex-nurses who went to medical school to become real doctors to go on the air and describe how vastly different the two fields are and how medical school truly prepares you to take care of patients on a level that nurses cannot understand unless they go through medical school. Its much easier for the nursing lobby to dismiss some arrogant physician than one of their own who is now is a physician.
Click to expand...

:thumbup:
 
IDBasco said:
Yeah slowly. The thing is, schools like UW now provide additional education for them. The sad thing about all this stuff is some people want to actully make a bigger impact on patients, but it seems too many want the status and especially income associated with expanded roles. My biggest problem with it is that it reduces quality of care even though it may increase access.
Click to expand...

I've said this before ... and it sounds a bit preach-y, but it's just a problem with 21st century American: people want the payoff without putting in any of the work. Want to be a famous actress, but have no talent and aren't willing to spend your time taking classes, networking, etc??? Be a slut on reality TV and hook up with Bret Michaels. Want to be a famous singer, but can't sing or write songs?? Welcome to producers and autotune!!! Want to be parade around in a white coat, introduce yourself as doctor, make the big bucks, but don't want to take the MCAT, spend 4 years in medical school, go 200k in debt, complete a set of qualifying boards, and spend 3-7 years in residency??? Enter a huge majority of mid-levels ...

You see where I'm going with this. People feel entitled to a pie of the pie, or assume they can do X, Y, and Z so they will bitch and moan until they can. What cracks me up is the effort people actually go through to make sure they don't have to do stuff legitimately. It seems like in the time you could fight with a big lobbying board (ie BON), create residencies, argue your credentials with everyone in the world, fight state boards, and even make appearances on CNN ... you can get your crap together and try to do it the real way through med school!!!???

I guess that defeats the whole purpose though ... oh well.
 
EternalMD said:
what we REALLY need is ex-nurses who went to medical school to become real doctors to go on the air and describe how vastly different the two fields are and how medical school truly prepares you to take care of patients on a level that nurses cannot understand unless they go through medical school. Its much easier for the nursing lobby to dismiss some arrogant physician than one of their own who is now is a physician.
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THIS! THIS! THIS! And you know there are a plenty of doctors out there that come from a nursing background. I think people were saying that the Pain Medicine cases were largely won due to a prominent ex-CRNA turned Physician who made it a point to point out the differences.
 
...
 
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Sent a letter to the AMA. Based upon how they ignored many physician voices during the health care legislation fight, I didn't expect any kind of response. Here is what I got:

Dear racerx:

Your note regarding nurse practitioners' agenda to legislatively expand their scope of practice was forwarded to me, and I am glad you took the time to write. You're correct that NPs and many other non-physicians are seeking to increased their scope of practice without necessarily increasing their education and training. The AMA has been tracking more than 300 individual pieces of legislation this year to that effect, and we have been working closely with state and national medical specialty societies across the country to fight against legislation that threatens patient safety.

In addition, as you note, the expansion of "doctor" degrees is of great concern to us due to the potential for increased patient confusion. The AMA is in the beginning stages of a Truth in Advertising campaign that includes advocacy and communications support for states and others to promote transparency and legislation to ensure that patients will be able to know their "doctor."

I would be happy to discuss this in more detail at your convenience. My contact information is below.

Kind regards,

Daniel Blaney-Koen


Daniel Blaney-Koen, JD
State Legislative Attorney
Advocacy Resource Center
515 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60654

 
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dingleberry007 said:
http://health.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/04/15/nurses-masquerading-as-doctors/

If you quickly skim the comments section, you'll see nurses commenting in full force. Make your voices heard on the comments section as well! If we are complacent, we deserve what we get!
Click to expand...

Yeah, the problem is that nurses have the ability to surf the Internet and post comments a lot more than residents or physicians. They can do this even while they're working. Or on their hour-long lunch break. Or in between throwing surprise birthday parties for their colleagues. Or on their four days off per week. Or ...
 
As of 2000 there were 255 actively practicing physicians per 100,000 persons in the United States. In 2000 there were roughly 392 persons per active physician in the United States. This ratio has consistently narrowed since 1970 (155/100,000). However, the average primary care physician still sees more than 2000 patients a year. The reason why there is such a crunch in the primary care area where nurse practitioners are becoming increasingly entrenched is the lack of physicians pursuing primary care careers.

For me, it would have been economically impractical to go into primary care, and fiscal suicide to accept medicaid. My student loan debt load is such that I would be living under a bridge. Medicaid will pay me $26 for a moderate complexity established patient seen in my clinic. I then have to split this with my nurse, receptionist, medical coder, transcriptionist, and pay for fixed office overhead. So I see about $5 bucks for a 15 minute visit. It gets worse.

I also get to wait 3-6 months to get paid. I get to spend time on the phone getting my treatment recommendations overruled by some bureaucrat who hasn’t even seen the inside of a medical textbook rather than treating my patient. Oh, and if anyone in the aforementioned chain forgets to dot an i or cross a t, I can be charged with fraud. You see, under medicare and medicaid compliance law failure to properly document a service rendered and then billing is fraud. I thought fraud required evidence of intent? I suppose it is just assumed that all physicians are out to rob the public treasury.

If the Nurse Practitioner's want to make a go of dealing with medicare and medicaid, I wish them the best. I will happily call them Doctor Nurse if they have the credentials. I may be a cold-hearted narcissistic capitalist pig, but I feel my services are worth more than $20 an hour and I will not work for this.

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/reports/factbook02/FB101.htm

http://aspe.hhs.gov/medicaid/sept06/ChuckMilliganReimbursementPolicy.pdf

http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/docs/complianceguidance/040203CorpRespRsceGuide.pdf
 
Um...the correct solution to this problem would be to increase Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement to realistic levels, not to water down the entry level for the independent practice of medicine to the lowest "bidder."
 
Blue Dog said:
Um...the correct solution to this problem would be to increase Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement to realistic levels, not to water down the entry level for the independent practice of medicine to the lowest "bidder."
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we doctors need to change the direction about this campaign only to money, and towards patient safety. Just caus Medicaid does not pay enough we will let nurses see the patients is a flawed argument to why we entered into medicine.
 
Blue Dog said:
Um...the correct solution to this problem would be to increase Medicaid/Medicare reimbursement to realistic levels, not to water down the entry level for the independent practice of medicine to the lowest "bidder."
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False. That's completely backwards. The entire problem is that the current expectation is that someone else will pay for everything. Telling the government to increase reimbursements is called a short-term fix. We've all run across people where we sit around making fun of their 50-page problem and medication list. They literally eat up millions of dollars of tax dollars. Now, that's fine and dandy if they pay for it, but they're not. It's basically transferring all the money from the healthy people to them, which is a glorified Ponzi scheme.

The solution is to get government out of health care and have people pay for their own care. Some people won't have as good health care as others. Some people won't have any health care. That's life. The only way to control costs is by free market pressure. Otherwise, the only other solution is to do what is being done: just demand that physicians work harder for less and continue to do that until they are working at breakneck speeds for free.
 
racerx said:
Sent a letter to the AMA. Based upon how they ignored many physician voices during the health care legislation fight, I didn't expect any kind of response. Here is what I got:

Dear racerx:

Your note regarding nurse practitioners' agenda to legislatively expand their scope of practice was forwarded to me, and I am glad you took the time to write. You're correct that NPs and many other non-physicians are seeking to increased their scope of practice without necessarily increasing their education and training. The AMA has been tracking more than 300 individual pieces of legislation this year to that effect, and we have been working closely with state and national medical specialty societies across the country to fight against legislation that threatens patient safety.

In addition, as you note, the expansion of "doctor" degrees is of great concern to us due to the potential for increased patient confusion. The AMA is in the beginning stages of a Truth in Advertising campaign that includes advocacy and communications support for states and others to promote transparency and legislation to ensure that patients will be able to know their "doctor."

I would be happy to discuss this in more detail at your convenience. My contact information is below.

Kind regards,

Daniel Blaney-Koen


Daniel Blaney-Koen, JD
State Legislative Attorney
Advocacy Resource Center
515 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60654
Click to expand...

I got a response from him too; interestingly, its a bit different and he doesn't invite me to contact him (perhaps because I'm no longer an AMA member? ;) ):

Dear Dr. Cox.

Thank you for your note. The AMA is working hard to ensure that inappropriate scope of practice expansions are defeated in state legislatures, and we have tools and resources to help state medical societies highlight the differences in education and training between physicians and non-physicians. Many nursing and other non-physician groups are attempting to blur those lines and disclaim the benefits of collaborative practice. The AMA supports a fully functional health care team with each member of that team playing the optimal role. As you note, this is a clear issue of patient safety, and we are doing everything we can to ensure that.

Kind regards,

Daniel Blaney-Koen
State Legislative Attorney
Advocacy Resource Center
515 N. State St.
Chicago , IL 60654
 
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Winged Scapula said:
Cool.

I'm sure many of us would be willing to talk to him as well if he's interested.
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I have emailed him. He replied back with more details and he mentioned that he would love to talk to us and that he welcomes our ideas.
He has send me a file about another nursing "joke" that I will post in a separate thread.

On another note, there might be a basis to force USF nursing (website currently down) to change the names of some residencies (mainly Internal medicine and Emergency medicine) because those names are simply fraudulent. Non physicians cannot pursue residencies in Medicine.

Everyone reading this thread must contact the Florida BOM
Email: MQA_Medicine@ doh.state.fl.us
Board Telephone: 850 245-4131
FAX: (850) 488-9325
Mailing Address:
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin #C03
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-3253


and ACGME:
http://www.acgme.org/acWebsite/about/ab_contact.asp


Also, just like nurses cannot use the term anasthesiologist, they shouldn't use the names: dermatologist, cardiologist.....

PS Did Dr. Fenske the PD of Derm at USF reply you back?
 
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Just thought it would be funny to post following link - THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HERE (regarding nurses trying to be doctors). Time: 1:16

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCVg8hAIyqg[/YOUTUBE]
 
glade said:
False. That's completely backwards. The entire problem is that the current expectation is that someone else will pay for everything. Telling the government to increase reimbursements is called a short-term fix. We've all run across people where we sit around making fun of their 50-page problem and medication list. They literally eat up millions of dollars of tax dollars. Now, that's fine and dandy if they pay for it, but they're not. It's basically transferring all the money from the healthy people to them, which is a glorified Ponzi scheme.

The solution is to get government out of health care and have people pay for their own care. Some people won't have as good health care as others. Some people won't have any health care. That's life. The only way to control costs is by free market pressure. Otherwise, the only other solution is to do what is being done: just demand that physicians work harder for less and continue to do that until they are working at breakneck speeds for free.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you on this. Have you looked into this system that is being implemented by obamacare? It is a place for people w/o insurance to search for insurers and purchase insurance themselves and at the same time highly regulating the companies. This is not a free market but ensures at least a bit of competition.

http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/7908.pdf

I disagree with you on the fact that people without health insurance don't/will not receive care. They go into ER's and we end up paying for the cost. Those "un-insured" are just that except that they DO receive care. We have this burden to consider.

I forsee a future in boutique sort of medicine similar to what is in other countries that have nationalized health care. People (with money) will end up paying a premium for excellent care (primary) provided by an MD. They have a choice. They end up not only paying into a system they don't use but also pay the physician which will increase overall spending.

Those that don't (ie people that are covered under national policy) will be forced to go wherever they are told.
 
eddie13231 said:
I forsee a future in boutique sort of medicine similar to what is in other countries that have nationalized health care. People (with money) will end up paying a premium for excellent care (primary) provided by an MD. They have a choice. They end up not only paying into a system they don't use but also pay the physician which will increase overall spending.

Those that don't (ie people that are covered under national policy) will be forced to go wherever they are told.
Click to expand...

Just a noob here ... but I kind of thought the same thing for a while. You'll see a divide in health care ... those who are used to the norm and the newly insured crowd. Docs will see the potential ($) in the older group, and cater towards them. I really think it's the concierge/boutique model's best chance to take off.
 
JaggerPlate said:
Just a noob here ... but I kind of thought the same thing for a while. You'll see a divide in health care ... those who are used to the norm and the newly insured crowd. Docs will see the potential ($) in the older group, and cater towards them. I really think it's the concierge/boutique model's best chance to take off.
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The problem will be if (or when?) they mandate doctors to accept govt insurance (like what's happening in MA). So instead of a two tiered system like Canada, we'll have doctors as govt employees like in the UK. This is what I'm more afraid of than anything else.
 
Slack3r said:
The problem will be if (or when?) they mandate doctors to accept govt insurance (like what's happening in MA). So instead of a two tiered system like Canada, we'll have doctors as govt employees like in the UK. This is what I'm more afraid of than anything else.
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A few things on this (again, my opinion, and keep in mind that I don't start med school until August - i.e. limited views at best):

1. I hate everything about socialized medicine, government controlling reimbursement, Barack Obama, etc, but there's really nothing that says it will go nationwide yet. I tend to be on board with the extremists, but I'm not entirely sure it will go wide. Again, it could, but I'm not positive that it will.

2. I think if it does ... you'll really start to see some creative solutions from physicians. As soft spoken and unorganized as docs can be, I just really don't know if I can see this one flying. Granted, that justification has gotten us into a lot of crap, but I think that one could be the line in the sand.

3. As it's written, to my understanding, it only applies to docs who accept insurance. If you don't accept insurance, they can't force you to accept x % of their BS insurance. So, if the market allows for it (which I really think that when the other choice is DMV style health clinics ... it will), you could just be straight up cash, and allow patients to bill the insurance companies and try to collect themselves. Granted, the government could then counter and not let you renew your license if you don't accept x % of their insurance under ANY circumstances ... but at that point, wheww ... I don't even know???
 
Slack3r said:
The problem will be if (or when?) they mandate doctors to accept govt insurance (like what's happening in MA). So instead of a two tiered system like Canada, we'll have doctors as govt employees like in the UK.
Click to expand...

No, that's exactly what they have in Canada...single-payer, not physician employment by the government like in the U.K.
 
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JaggerPlate said:
A few things on this (again, my opinion, and keep in mind that I don't start med school until August - i.e. limited views at best):

1. I hate everything about socialized medicine, government controlling reimbursement, Barack Obama, etc, but there's really nothing that says it will go nationwide yet. I tend to be on board with the extremists, but I'm not entirely sure it will go wide. Again, it could, but I'm not positive that it will.

2. I think if it does ... you'll really start to see some creative solutions from physicians. As soft spoken and unorganized as docs can be, I just really don't know if I can see this one flying. Granted, that justification has gotten us into a lot of crap, but I think that one could be the line in the sand.

3. As it's written, to my understanding, it only applies to docs who accept insurance. If you don't accept insurance, they can't force you to accept x % of their BS insurance. So, if the market allows for it (which I really think that when the other choice is DMV style health clinics ... it will), you could just be straight up cash, and allow patients to bill the insurance companies and try to collect themselves. Granted, the government could then counter and not let you renew your license if you don't accept x % of their insurance under ANY circumstances ... but at that point, wheww ... I don't even know???
Click to expand...

Jagger you show more passion about these laws then some of the med student voters I've met at AMA national meetings. Its refreshing to see. I hope you continue your political activism throughout your career.

We had a talk about this cash-based system at our school by a consulting company that goes to national meetings (ie Family Medicine) and talks about how to start one. Its actually a viable option for starting a practice these days even without any cosmetics practice. However you actually have to provide a SERVICE to your CUSTOMERS and many MD's don't think this way. It works for people that will be committed to more marketing, service, and catering to the customer (patient). This ensures repeat customers. There ARE people willing to pay but they want to feel like they are getting something for their money. Compassionate care and someone that takes them seriously (you'd be surprised how rare this is) and isn't rushed to see a new patient every 10 minutes.

I don't believe that we will ever have the same rules and regulations as overseas which both democrats and republicans here (USA) appose. Obama himself has said this and I doubt he would ever sign a law like that into act. Government is dipping their hands into our practice more on this reform but it will happen very slowly. Its expected to not go into full effect until 2014. Even if it does go into effect it will probably be state legislation so you can chose which state to practice in to avoid this (see mass physician exodus from Florida due to their state-laws)
 
racerx said:
Sent a letter to the AMA. Based upon how they ignored many physician voices during the health care legislation fight, I didn't expect any kind of response. Here is what I got:

Dear racerx:

Your note regarding nurse practitioners’ agenda to legislatively expand their scope of practice was forwarded to me, and I am glad you took the time to write. You’re correct that NPs and many other non-physicians are seeking to increased their scope of practice without necessarily increasing their education and training. The AMA has been tracking more than 300 individual pieces of legislation this year to that effect, and we have been working closely with state and national medical specialty societies across the country to fight against legislation that threatens patient safety.

In addition, as you note, the expansion of “doctor” degrees is of great concern to us due to the potential for increased patient confusion. The AMA is in the beginning stages of a Truth in Advertising campaign that includes advocacy and communications support for states and others to promote transparency and legislation to ensure that patients will be able to know their “doctor.”

I would be happy to discuss this in more detail at your convenience. My contact information is below.

Kind regards,

Daniel Blaney-Koen


Daniel Blaney-Koen, JD
State Legislative Attorney
Advocacy Resource Center
515 N. State St.
Chicago, IL 60654
Click to expand...

This is perfect. Pretty much exactly what I predicted on the other Dr. McNurse thread.
 
Slack3r said:
Re-read the post, I never said physicians in Canada were employed by the govt.
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I never implied that you did. Read my clarification.

Mandated health insurance wouldn't even really be single-payer, but it's a lot closer to that than it is to wholesale government ownership of the entire healthcare infrastructure of the U.S.
 
"The AMA is in the beginning stages of a Truth in Advertising campaign that includes advocacy and communications support for states and others to promote transparency and legislation to ensure that patients will be able to know their "doctor.""

This is all slippery wording and intended to be very non-committal. So...they're beginning a campaign to "support" helping patients to understand that "hey, these are nurses, and they've taken over. They're a lot like your previous doctor...except that they're NOT....they're actually nurses....and they've taken over." Lot of help this will do us.

This may be as helpful as when they publicly supported a bill to ration care and further restrict physician autonomy.

Why won't the AMA stand up and fight for us? Why are doctors afraid to defend their own profession? We need to go beyond being grateful for any lukewarm response and demand that they start acting in defense of physicians and their patients.



 
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eddie13231 said:
Jagger you show more passion about these laws then some of the med student voters I've met at AMA national meetings. Its refreshing to see. I hope you continue your political activism throughout your career.

We had a talk about this cash-based system at our school by a consulting company that goes to national meetings (ie Family Medicine) and talks about how to start one. Its actually a viable option for starting a practice these days even without any cosmetics practice. However you actually have to provide a SERVICE to your CUSTOMERS and many MD's don't think this way. It works for people that will be committed to more marketing, service, and catering to the customer (patient). This ensures repeat customers. There ARE people willing to pay but they want to feel like they are getting something for their money. Compassionate care and someone that takes them seriously (you'd be surprised how rare this is) and isn't rushed to see a new patient every 10 minutes.

I don't believe that we will ever have the same rules and regulations as overseas which both democrats and republicans here (USA) appose. Obama himself has said this and I doubt he would ever sign a law like that into act. Government is dipping their hands into our practice more on this reform but it will happen very slowly. Its expected to not go into full effect until 2014. Even if it does go into effect it will probably be state legislation so you can chose which state to practice in to avoid this (see mass physician exodus from Florida due to their state-laws)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the kudos ... I really don't see myself changing, so I guess I will be 'fighting the good fight' for quite some time.

That's awesome that consulting company came and spoke with you guys. I would have loved to sit in on that meeting. You bring up a perfect point too ... people will pay more for a SERVICE. You have to offer them more than standard PC care (note: I'm not saying there is anything insufficient about this care, just stating that if two people offer the same service, one takes insurance and one takes cash ... it's not hard to see who gets the patients).

There is a guy in my neck of the woods who has annual enrollment fees. They aren't crazy, but in return for these fees, you get quite a bit - the doctor's cell, guaranteed same day appointments, crazy email access, etc, etc. The guy does a lot, and I'm sure he's compensated well for his effort. Keep in mind too that he's an IM guy who practices adult PC.
 
Here's the latest from AMA Legal Counsel...

Dear Dr. Cox:

Your frustration is shared by many physicians, which is one of the reasons why – as you have heard – the AMA has begun a Truth in Advertising campaign to help states enact legislation that would require all health care professionals to truthfully disclose their level of education, training and licensure in all advertisements and communications. There also are other provisions to our model legislation to help increase clarity for patients – and we are working to enlist allies to assist states when they move on such TIA legislation.

To show the depth of public confusion, I have attached a survey we conducted in 2008. The DNP issue is just one piece, unfortunately.

I don’t mean to sound like a marketing guy (I’m a lawyer, after all), but the AMA does exist to advocate on these and other issues for all physicians because we understand that you spend your time on your patients and not on politics. My own internist, who I trust with my life, tells me that she reads journals, not AMA e-mails, but she’s glad there’s an AMA to fight for her. Sounds like the right choice to me!

I don’t know if you have made a decision whether to join this year, but please know that we’d really love to have you! Also, even if you decide not to join, I would love to be able to quote you for potential advocacy pieces re: the fact that patients do not know the differences btw M.D., D.N.P., P.A., Au.D. , N.D. , A.R.N.P., Psy.D., Sc.D., etc. I won’t use it without your permission.

Thank you again, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.

Daniel

View attachment TIA SOP survey Dec 2009.pdf
 
Winged Scapula said:
Here's the latest from AMA Legal Counsel...

Dear Dr. Cox:

Your frustration is shared by many physicians, which is one of the reasons why – as you have heard – the AMA has begun a Truth in Advertising campaign to help states enact legislation that would require all health care professionals to truthfully disclose their level of education, training and licensure in all advertisements and communications. There also are other provisions to our model legislation to help increase clarity for patients – and we are working to enlist allies to assist states when they move on such TIA legislation.

To show the depth of public confusion, I have attached a survey we conducted in 2008. The DNP issue is just one piece, unfortunately.

I don't mean to sound like a marketing guy (I'm a lawyer, after all), but the AMA does exist to advocate on these and other issues for all physicians because we understand that you spend your time on your patients and not on politics. My own internist, who I trust with my life, tells me that she reads journals, not AMA e-mails, but she's glad there's an AMA to fight for her. Sounds like the right choice to me!

I don't know if you have made a decision whether to join this year, but please know that we'd really love to have you! Also, even if you decide not to join, I would love to be able to quote you for potential advocacy pieces re: the fact that patients do not know the differences btw M.D., D.N.P., P.A., Au.D. , N.D. , A.R.N.P., Psy.D., Sc.D., etc. I won't use it without your permission.

Thank you again, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.

Daniel

View attachment 14660
Click to expand...

Wow. If I didn't know you as a respectable poster here on SDN, I'd say that the above letter from the AMA was fabricated. I'm pleasantly surprised. While we should not get ahead of ourselves, this is most definitely a step in the right direction.
 
J1515 said:
Wow. If I didn't know you as a respectable poster here on SDN, I'd say that the above letter from the AMA was fabricated.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the vote of confidence (I think).:laugh:

I'm pleasantly surprised. While we should not get ahead of ourselves, this is most definitely a step in the right direction.
Click to expand...

We'll see - I told him that if indeed the AMA came through on this issue I would seriously rethink my membership (or lack thereof).
 
eddie13231 said:
Originally Posted by JaggerPlate
A few things on this (again, my opinion, and keep in mind that I don't start med school until August - i.e. limited views at best):

1. I hate everything about socialized medicine, government controlling reimbursement, Barack Obama, etc, but there's really nothing that says it will go nationwide yet. I tend to be on board with the extremists, but I'm not entirely sure it will go wide. Again, it could, but I'm not positive that it will.

2. I think if it does ... you'll really start to see some creative solutions from physicians. As soft spoken and unorganized as docs can be, I just really don't know if I can see this one flying. Granted, that justification has gotten us into a lot of crap, but I think that one could be the line in the sand.

3. As it's written, to my understanding, it only applies to docs who accept insurance. If you don't accept insurance, they can't force you to accept x % of their BS insurance. So, if the market allows for it (which I really think that when the other choice is DMV style health clinics ... it will), you could just be straight up cash, and allow patients to bill the insurance companies and try to collect themselves. Granted, the government could then counter and not let you renew your license if you don't accept x % of their insurance under ANY circumstances ... but at that point, wheww ... I don't even know???
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Jagger you show more passion about these laws then some of the med student voters I've met at AMA national meetings. Its refreshing to see. I hope you continue your political activism throughout your career.

We had a talk about this cash-based system at our school by a consulting company that goes to national meetings (ie Family Medicine) and talks about how to start one. Its actually a viable option for starting a practice these days even without any cosmetics practice. However you actually have to provide a SERVICE to your CUSTOMERS and many MD's don't think this way. It works for people that will be committed to more marketing, service, and catering to the customer (patient). This ensures repeat customers. There ARE people willing to pay but they want to feel like they are getting something for their money. Compassionate care and someone that takes them seriously (you'd be surprised how rare this is) and isn't rushed to see a new patient every 10 minutes.

I don't believe that we will ever have the same rules and regulations as overseas which both democrats and republicans here (USA) appose. Obama himself has said this and I doubt he would ever sign a law like that into act. Government is dipping their hands into our practice more on this reform but it will happen very slowly. Its expected to not go into full effect until 2014. Even if it does go into effect it will probably be state legislation so you can chose which state to practice in to avoid this (see mass physician exodus from Florida due to their state-laws)
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Hear, hear.

We need a few thousand clones of you.



:thumbup:
 
Winged Scapula said:
Here's the latest from AMA Legal Counsel...

Dear Dr. Cox:

Your frustration is shared by many physicians, which is one of the reasons why – as you have heard – the AMA has begun a Truth in Advertising campaign to help states enact legislation that would require all health care professionals to truthfully disclose their level of education, training and licensure in all advertisements and communications. There also are other provisions to our model legislation to help increase clarity for patients – and we are working to enlist allies to assist states when they move on such TIA legislation.

To show the depth of public confusion, I have attached a survey we conducted in 2008. The DNP issue is just one piece, unfortunately.

I don’t mean to sound like a marketing guy (I’m a lawyer, after all), but the AMA does exist to advocate on these and other issues for all physicians because we understand that you spend your time on your patients and not on politics. My own internist, who I trust with my life, tells me that she reads journals, not AMA e-mails, but she’s glad there’s an AMA to fight for her. Sounds like the right choice to me!

I don’t know if you have made a decision whether to join this year, but please know that we’d really love to have you! Also, even if you decide not to join, I would love to be able to quote you for potential advocacy pieces re: the fact that patients do not know the differences btw M.D., D.N.P., P.A., Au.D. , N.D. , A.R.N.P., Psy.D., Sc.D., etc. I won’t use it without your permission.

Thank you again, and please do not hesitate to contact me if you need anything.

Daniel

View attachment 14660
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:eek:

WOW!

Why couldn't the AMA have been at least this attentive and responsive during the whole healthcare edict debacle?

This guy sounds so convincing I almost want to reenact my membership.

I'll think about it.
 
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