By C. Douglas Phillips, MD, FACR
“…a capitalist is a fellow who, by definition, can ill
afford to believe in anything other than the doctrine of the bottom line.” Lewis H. Lapham
We are looking at real and honest-to-God MASSIVE cuts in our
reimbursements over the next few years. I am a modestly political person, and I have relatively strong opinions,
but this is approaching inevitability. Regardless
of your political leaning, I think you can see this coming. It doesn’t matter if you’re democrat,
republican, libertarian, or whig in tendency, you all know that the dollars are
not there, and we are in for some chopping. And if a politician tells you that you will do better with their system,
or their party, so, hey, vote for me!, I
would ask you to remember a simple fact – you can tell if they are lying to you
by making a simple observation. Are
their lips moving? If so, there’s your
answer. They are lying.
So, we make less and less. Here is where I’m going with that. Is there a bottom line? At what
point will you say, "enough is enough." "I’m moving to the country and taking up fishing to feed my family.” If you were going to make $15 for reading a
head CT, would you quit? $4 for a chest
film? $1 for an US? Do you see yourself and your contribution to
patient management as a $75K job? I
would imagine that most of you have thought about this, and it is certainly
moving that way. I think this is a
pragmatic discussion to engage in. We
are approaching a point where we will not be able to keep those machines
working. Any bright solutions out there?
Professional
Biography: C. Douglas Phillips, MD, FACR, is a Professor of Radiology,
Director of Head and Neck Imaging, at Weill Medical College of Cornell
University, New York–Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY. He is a member of
the Applied Radiology Editorial Advisory Board.