George,
I quite clearly remember in 1988 when Managed Care was being forced down our throats that physicians were told they had to jump on the bandwagon or lose their funding. This freightened many, many private practices into selling out to hospitals or to larger groups in an effort to "enhance" their bargaining capabilities with these entities. Solo practitioners were told they were "doomed to fail". That bandwagon unfortunately led many of my cohorts down a disasterous slope. I, however, am still plodding along, doing as well (or maybe a little better) than I did 20 years ago and constantly have other physicians ask me how they too can get back into a small practice. I embrace the technologies only if they can prove they save me time or improve my care or the outcomes of my patients. The same way I must pick and choose what tests will benefit a patient and which will not provide any additional useful information or impact the treatment recommendation, I must pick and choose those technologies that are truely helpful. Just because I have the ability to do so does not warrant my ordering an MRI on every patient in my practice. Not only would this mentality among physicians quickly bankrupt our health care system but this mentality is what has contributed to the fall of Wall Street and the housing markets. Oh look!! An empty field...lets build 100 houses on it and we'll get rich! In the end, what works is what works....what serves the users the best...not what has the most technology, bells, whistles, or fancy crap that is useless.
If this Recession/Depression does nothing for us, I hope it will reset our priorities a little. Growth is not always good, just ask the thousands of business that over-extended themselves and now are failing or the cities that have poured billions of dollars into "growth projects" which are now standing idle and unfinished. Or ask the repair industries like cobblers, watch repair stores, and auto mechanics...their businesses are up substantially now. Small and simple and inexpensive are still inherently desirable and we may find more and more businesses looking hard at how to regain this type of mentality.
I agree with Bert (
). The day e-prescribing improves my ability to care for my patients is the day I will evaluate it. I will turn a deaf ear if it is mandated. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with principle. I believe those of us who have chosen to maintain simplicity tend to have a bit more of this than those big, greedy (but technologically superior)capitalists you disdain.
Leslie
