It's A Bad Thing That Doctors Can't Own Hospitals Anymore
Doctors can't own hospitals anymore -- a direct result of government policy, writes Loren Heal at FreedomWorks.org -- and this is not good for patients:
Doctors effectively can't own new hospitals any more. That's because the Big Hospital lobby convinced the leftists who designed Obamacare that physicans owning hospitals was a conflict of interest. That's right: according to that theory, the people who have devoted their lives to the study of medicine want to own hospitals so they can profit by withholding care, or by overcharging for it.The trouble with that line of reasoning is that the non-physicians in charge of hospitals and insurance companies have no such conflict. Their incentives are to provide as little care as possible while charging as much as they can. Their desire to protect their personal reputations and adherence to ethical code are not as strong as for physicians.
As a solution, he'd like to see a repeal of Obamacare. Anybody think that is likely to happen?
via @ScrewedByState
The problem is that there is an inherent conflict of interest since medical reimbursement is based on services rendered.
Thus, the surgeon gets paid more to cut than to push conservative treatment, and the hospital likewise gets the billing benefits of the more aggressive treatments.
It's nice to think that all doctors are motivated solely by a desire to help the patients. But it is also naive.
Remember that the owners of hospitals have a strong desire to fill the beds. That is why we see hospitals advertise their services.
Turk at April 22, 2014 6:51 AM
Yes, I think it'll happen. The rats have been leaving the sinking ship for over a year now.
The real conflict of interest in medicine is between the consuming public, who want medicine to be consumer-driven, and the nanny-statists who want all decisions to be directed by government policy. If the nanny-statists win, we won't be America anymore.
jdgalt at April 22, 2014 7:07 AM
Ha Ha. Politicians and bureaucrats worried about conflicts of interest and gaming the system.
Andrew_M_Garland at April 22, 2014 7:11 AM
Andrew_M_Garland: "Ha Ha. Politicians and bureaucrats worried about conflicts of interest and gaming the system."
Yep, that's pretty ironic.
In reality, the only thing they're worried about is who's gaming the system.
Ken R at April 22, 2014 11:15 AM
Can they still have sanitorium/spas where then give enemas and oatmeal to the wealthy ala Road to Wellbridge?
NicoleK at April 23, 2014 9:11 AM
@"The problem is that there is an inherent conflict of interest since medical reimbursement is based on services rendered"
I'm pretty sure this describes every single thing you buy, anywhere. And it remains true whether it's a physician in the management position, or some MBA (what, you think some random MBA is automatically noble?) The solution, as with anything else, is free market competition, so you'll be able to more easily get second opinions ... i.e. allow a lot more hospitals to be opened.
Lobster at April 27, 2014 6:04 AM
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