On behalf of the Dade County Medical Association, I salute the legislators and physicians who work diligently to make Florida a better place to practice medicine.In 2011, we had great success in the Florida legislature. The Dade County Medical Association along with other medical associations in the State of Florida worked diligently on behalf of physicians and patients. Together with the Florida Medical Association whose actions, direction, guidance, lobbying and relentless support was always there, we achieved the passage of HB 479. This landmark medical liability reform bill was signed into law by Governor Rick Scott on Monday, June 27, 2011. HB 479 is the legislation that during the 2011 Session, become law and its passage is a major victory for Florida physicians. A decade in the making, this bill is considered the most important achievement in tort reform legislation since the caps on noneconomic damages was enacted in 2003. There were other laws passed pertaining to sovereign immunity for different hospitals in our state, including the University of Miami. So as you can see reform can occur; changes for the better can occur in these difficult economic times that our state and our country are facing.
Our future will depend on proper dialogue between those who administer the care and those who perform the care; between those who are managing the sites of care and those who deliver care. There has to be a balance between all those who care for patients. We have to work in an environment of mutual respect, for which physicians have the amplitude to practice medicine to care for the patients. Our future is in preventive medicine, in preventing disease from occurring, in caring for our patients before disease becomes problematic to care for. Our future is investing in our basic programs; we need to start with the grassroots of our future – our children. One of the problems we face will be to care for all the baby boomers who will turn to Medicare for medical coverage; over 13,000 American citizens are eligible for Medicare every day for the next 15 years. This is an unbelievable amount of people to care for. Will we have the primary care physicians to do so?
Let’s focus for a moment on the young adult age group from 20 to 45 years of age who hardly ever go for a physical exam unless they are ill, as well as on our elderly population who are in great need of medical care.
How do we resolve this problem? A mathematical solution, may be the answer. It is as simple as 2 plus 2 equals 4. Let’s fix the Medicare reimbursement. We have qualified personnel in our medical field (physicians), actuaries, great economic minds, lawyers, physicians, pharmaceutical and hospitals as well as insurance representatives who need to reevaluate and fix the Medicare reimbursement fee structure that for the past years has been broken. We need insurance companies to pay for well care visits (not just once a year), for nutrition and exercise consults. This investment will pay in the long run.
We need to create a better environment for patients to be cared for. And let’s make patients accountable for their medical care too. They (and their families and children when applicable) are who we work for diligently. Let’s make them more responsible for the way they live, eat, behave, exercise, and take their medication (when applicable). Let’s have the accountability on them too to make themselves healthy. So sharing is good.
The hospitals, pharmaceutical and insurance companies need to hear and listen to the physicians who are caring for their members. Physicians have to create better alliances with these institutions. A proper relationship of understanding what the patient needs, what the physician requires to deliver care and what the hospital and insurance services are, can result in better understanding and improve quality of care. Result? At the end of the day we will have great savings.
In hospital care, we need to facilitate the flow of patients, from the moment a patient is registered. All of the necessary procedures, examinations and tests done have to come in an orderly and sequential fashion, much like a car factory, but with dignity and compassion. Indeed humans are not robots or machines, but the mechanism for which engineering can get involved can make our hospitals, offices and our lives better.
So our future is bright, with a lot of steps to take. All of us have different views on this matter, but patients are here to stay and be cared for. Let’s prevent them from getting sick and care for them before illnesses become harder to treat.
