All through the yearlong debate on health care reform, apparently the physician’s say seems to have gone basically unheard. But now doctors may encompass an opportunity to shape how reform efforts could transmute for patients and society. This was mentioned by Cary Gross, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Yale School of Medicine.
Cary Gross and Erica Spatz, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale, believe that there seems to be numerous ways to unleash physician contribution and leadership in health care reform. First, physicians ought to do two things like acknowledging the unfair and dysfunctional nature of the present health care system and the function doctors play in perpetuating it. Second, they have to check their professional responsibilities to the public by prioritizing their duties to patients and to society.
Gross, commented, “Once these two things are done, individual physicians can and should take action with specific, concrete behaviors that will facilitate and guide efforts to improve the health care system.â€
These steps include working everyday to offer superior quality of care. They have to manage expenses effectively, enhance interaction, get involved locally, assist in executing creative payment reform solutions, talk about reform with patients and reduce conflicts of interest.
Spatz mentioned that while the ultimate timeline or mechanism of health care reform is still evolving, one thing is clear: effective systemic change will require greater physician commitment and involvement.
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).