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[skatha]

Originally posted by drzone

Hey pay us more appropriately and there will be more of us:D . Want less taxes and more health coverage, with a population (including docs) getting older, and government that allienate the docs, this is what you get. Oh and did I mention people flocking to ER for minor ailments...

This should be (O.T.) by now

Same thing happening in the States, I had to close my private practice due to low insurance reimbursements and increasing malpractice insurance costs. Interest in going to primary care is dropping-less than 5,000 medical school graduates went into primary care in 2003, according to my most recent Internal Medicine news. Interest in medicine as a career has been dropping for the last 15 years, as noted by decreasing numbers of applicants to med school. The perception is that somebody can make better money with less schooling, debt, sacrifice, and hassle by NOT going into medicine and, for the most part, they're right. My internal medicine collegues make about 45K-60K a year and they are supported by their spouses. Kaiser-Permamenti is not even interviewing new docs unless they have a spouse who makes enough to buy a house in California due to the salary issues.

Wait lists in the States are not unknown-check out the 3 month waits to get a mammogram.

We'll also wait longer for surgery when 50% of the CT surgeons and general surgeons have retired in the next 10 years

Concierge medicine is becoming very popular-pay a doc a retainer fee and he/she is at your beck and call.

Will the absolute number of docs decrease?

Probably not, but, the last time I checked the Aetna provider list for Houston, TX-4th largest city in the US, there were more "Dr. Patel"s than "Dr. Smith"s

[ruhtra]

Dr. M. Clarfield and the Sports Medicine Specialists clinic represents what is wrong with medicine. Had an appoinment changed, then spent over a hour in his clinic - no doctor/no customer care. I guess he thinks by treating the Leafs he walks on water.

Telehealth Ontario - is a complete waste of taxpayers money - absolutely clueless and their only function is to convionce Ontario Tax payers to stay out of the emergency wards.

Sorry to rant, but I have spent too much time to get a simple thumb injury evaluated.

Good, fast, and cheap. Pick at most two. It applies to most things. All we really picked was cheapest and "not bad".

That's interesting about Telehealth. When I tore up my knee she was adamant I go to a hospital immediately and the emerg nurse's comment was "that's what they always say". It's still probably a waste.

But I agree with Dr. Zone because I've seen it in other businesses. When working harder has no effect on your compensation you just stop trying and just do your job in more of a work to rule fashion. We've told doctors and nurses through our governments that we won't pay them well and they can't easily just pick another company or do a little freelance work on the side to get ahead.

I found the docs and physios at Sports Med Specialists to be good when I went a few years ago but they're too well known and you end up with that cattle herding arrangement because they're so busy. I've been going to Athlete's Care and it's better.

The biggest problem is the lack of discussion to fix it. As soon as the word "private" is used there's some sort of panic and personal attacks come out. The truth is we have a lot of private delivered care funded from OHIP. The other topic that gets raised agin and again is queue jumping. But that also happens already. Much of it probably for medical reasons but some because of celebrity or connections. So we've already got multi tiers. Ask your MP/MPP how long he waits to see a doctor once he got elected. How about his family?

arthur