Several questions immediately pop up from the article:
* "He watched doctors treat up to 40 patients a day". Is the article implying that is somehow bad in and of itself? If the doctor has staff to handle paper work, and doesn't travel to each patient, this seems to be more efficient. In economic terms, the doctor is maximizing his comparative advantage (treating patients)
* "It wasn't like this decades ago. ... there was so little overhead." What is the cause of this recent overhead? Certainly doctors had offices and staff decades ago, as they do now. Is it just the insurance part? If that's the case, then just simply perform fee-for-service; doctors are free to do that.
Comments
Several questions immediately pop up from the article:
* "He watched doctors treat up to 40 patients a day". Is the article implying that is somehow bad in and of itself? If the doctor has staff to handle paper work, and doesn't travel to each patient, this seems to be more efficient. In economic terms, the doctor is maximizing his comparative advantage (treating patients)
* "It wasn't like this decades ago. ... there was so little overhead." What is the cause of this recent overhead? Certainly doctors had offices and staff decades ago, as they do now. Is it just the insurance part? If that's the case, then just simply perform fee-for-service; doctors are free to do that.
What is the cause of this recent overhead?
Salaries for administrators and managers. Like universities, health care organizations have dramatically expanded the number of administrative staff.
Most are private businesses-- they should be run efficiently.