The idea of paying doctors based on the outcomes of their patients is something I’ve heard mentioned before. My first reaction, when hearing this was “well, maybe it could work”. Now, after truly thinking about it I’m completely against it. It’s similar to how part of teachers pay is based on their students’ performance, and I find this to be unfair as well. There are always a few bad apples in the bunch that just don’t care enough to do well. Why should the teacher be penalized for something they can’t control? The same applies to doctors and patients. The large majority of patients don’t follow their doctors’ advice and directions, and this causes them to end up back in the doctors’ office. Should this be the doctor’s fault? I don’t think so. There is no way to track patients outcomes based solely on what doctors prescribe or way they treat their patients. There is also no way to know if patients are listening to their doctors’ directions and following them precisely. Even if a patient is abiding by the doctors orders perfectly, there are just other variables such as foods, over the counter medicines, and environmental factors that can have an affect a patient’s outcome. Furthermore, if we attempted to implement a system based on patients’ outcomes, the cost in creating and maintaining such a database would be enormous. I mean, we are trying to cut the cost of healthcare, not increase it. This money would be better spent elsewhere. Perhaps on new technology that could aide in patient treatments. Either way, taking on a project that has a greater potential to fail than succeed and is not financially friendly is not the best course of action. The best way to go is to trust our doctors, and hope they have our best interest financially and health wise at heart.
EVERA. Everyone should feel this good about healthcare.
Source: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/06/doctors-paid-outcomes.html
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