Beth Kassab: Patients lose when hospitals take over doctors
When a big hospital chain buys an independent doctor’s office, we often hear the move will “enhance care”, “integrate care” or “improve health-care efficiency.”
Spare us the euphemisms.
Patients are the losers in these deals.
We pay higher costs. We get fewer choices because doctors are pressured to refer patients only to providers who also work for the hospital. And, because these acquisitions are so common today, an independent doctor’s office is becoming as quaint as the house call.
Unfortunately, this is the entire article and is much too short to discuss a topic full of so many nuances. Tough issues need far more analysis and thought than this. The question to study is, if the goal of physician practice acquisitions is integration of healthcare to enhance and improve the patient experience while reducing costs, then where are the disconnects? Why are hospitals and physicians failing (assuming this “reporter” is correct in her bottom line conclusion)?
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