4 ms·
Why are there so few doctors in the USA that they need a whole system around them to ensure they spend < 5 min in front of each patient?
by peferron 9y ago
Why are there so few doctors in the USA that they need a whole system around them to ensure they spend < 5 min in front of each patient?
- arkades 9y agoAfter you graduate medical school you are required to undergo post-graduate education to receive your license. This post-graduate education system hasn't had an expansion of slots in over 20 years (the Balanced Budget Act of '96 put a frozen cap on the number of funded positions.) A number of positions are unfunded, and hospitals are trying to actively eliminate those (rather than grow the pool of physicians to meet demand.) The actual amount paid out for these slots has been repeatedly cut into as well, as part of various political wranglings. New med schools are opening every day, but they're an irrelevancy when the chokepoint is actually getting narrower. Additionally, docs are just the most expensive staff members. It's bad business to have someone who costs $10/hr doing work someone else can do for $5/hr. Hospital CFOs don't care if it makes patients feel like shit, and doctors feel like shit; they don't want to pay out the marginal $/hr.