Blurring of Definition of Big Medicine; Corporatization of Healthcare

Eight years ago I posted a note referring to an article in theNew York Times (see:More Doctors Giving Up Private Practices) about the emergence of"Big Medicine" (see:Physician Private Practice Declines; the Last Barrier to Emergence of"Big Medicine"). In that note, Big Medicine was defined as being composed of the following organizations: (1)Big Pharma, (2)Big Payers (i.e., the U.S. government and large insurance companies); and (3)Big Providers (i.e., large consolidated regional health systems). A related concept now occurring in Big Medicine is its corporatization. As a result, physicians working in hospitals are now commonly referred to as providers and patients as customers. Here is a quote from a recent blog note that discusses the corporatization of medicine (see:Here ’s what the corporatization of medicine is doing).....[T]he “corporatization of medicine,”...[occurs when] the principles of depersonalized mass production — highly effective in retail business models — ...[are] imposed on health care systems, replacing the sacrosanct doctor-patient relationship with that of a commodity and consumer. Why is this happening? In the first three quarters of 2017, the top-five insurance companies made a record $6 billion in profit, with their executives getting handsome salaries and bonuses.The top CEOs of health care systems make seven- and eight-figure salaries. And their executives make equally large sums of money.When you receive that $25...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Healthcare Business Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Insurance Pharmaceutical Industry Quality of Care Source Type: blogs