ObamaCare, Repeal and Replace, Pres. Trump, Tom Price……Why did I become a Doctor?

I have always wanted to be a doctor. My earliest memories are carrying a toy doctor’s bag and stethoscope going up and down the street examining the neighborhood kids. In second grade, I built a clay model of the brain for the science fair, naming each sulci and gyri. Ok, I admit it, I was and still am a bit of a geek and data wonk. But I embrace it. In the same way I embrace the fact that I am a physician. I love taking care of patients. Whether it is in a busy urban ED, a small community clinic or on a mission trip in the Amazon, delivering care to patients is my passion.

I had planned on going to medical school for as long as I can remember. I am the first physician in my family. It wasn’t something I was doing because my genealogy demanded it. I wasn’t a sociology major looking for a high paying career. For some reason my DNA was imprinted with the desire to be a physician. I found that I was a whiz at science. From high school through college biology was immensely more simple then Shakespeare. To me, it was a calling

After medical school, I took an oath that stated I would prescribe regimen for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. Additionally, I shall always act in the best interest of my patient and shall never allow personal reward to impact my judgment and I shall always have the highest respect for human life. I did then and I continue to now, believe that my patients should come first.

After being in practice for over 25 years, my passion and desire to deliver the best care to my patients in an altruistic fashion has not waned. But, today, it has become much more difficult. Mounting paperwork and obstreperous governmental oversight have made being a physician, at times, a maelstrom of regulatory desiderata. Oversite comes from every quarter. An alphabet soup of regulators from BCBS and UHC to CMS and TJC are consistently and constantly asking us to accomplish more with less time and less resources. EMR’s drive us to enter data in a certain way so that it can be captured, measured and billed for. Somewhere along the way, I began to forget what it was like to be a doctor.

I had ventured into the corporate side of medicine for a while and have a clear and unfettered version of what the administrators of healthcare, public and private really desire. Placing the cart before the horse, cost before quality, has ultimately led to those providing the care being backed into a corner. The ACA, while providing needed coverage to millions of Americans, increased the cost of insurance and bogged down the system with administrative oversight and mindless clinical quantification. President Trump promised us a healthcare system that would follow free market principles and be the best in the world. He has entrusted Tom Price to build and drive this vision by putting patients, families and doctors in charge, focusing on the principles of affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, choices and responsiveness. 

At the end of the day, I am the arbiter of my patient’s well-being. I took that oath; I am responsible to do no harm; I am the Physician.