The Gordian Knot: Ensnaring Today’s Healthcare System
By Steve Simmons, M.D.
Gordian Knot: 1: an intricate problem ; especially : a problem insoluble in its own terms —often used in the phrase cut the Gordian knot 2: a knot tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia, held to be capable of being untied only by the future ruler of Asia, and cut by Alexander the Great with his sword
Generations ago, the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Code of Ethics stipulated that allowing a third party to profit from a physician’s labor was unethical. This tenet resides in a time when house calls were common place; when trust and respect helped forge an immutable bond between doctor and patient; and when it would have been unthinkable to allow anyone other than the doctor, family, or patient to have a role within the doctor-patient relationship.
The landscape of today’s healthcare system and its delivery methods make the authors of the AMA’s forgotten code look prescient. Insurance companies, controlling the purse strings, have become an unwelcome partner within the doctor-patient relationship, frequently dictating what can and can’t be done, and are reaping a healthy profit from their oversight. Obscene salaries and large bonuses are awarded to the CEOs of these companies for keeping as much money as they can from those providing health services, with the CEO United Healthcare being reported as receiving a $324 million paycheck during a five year period. Thus, short-term business strategies are given priority, often at the expense of patients’ long-term medical goals, creating a Gordian knot so entwined that no one – patients, doctors, insurance providers, or government regulators – can see a way to unravel it.
A result of so much money being skimmed off the top is that no one seems to be getting what they need, let alone want. Patients long for more time to discuss problems with their doctor and wish it were easier to get an appointment. Yet physicians are unable to receive adequate reimbursement from insurance companies for their services, and if they do get reimbursement, it’s after months of waiting and often at the high expense of having a posse of back office staff needed to negotiate these payments. These physicians therefore are forced to overload their schedule and rapidly move patients through their office if they are to earn their typical $150,000 per year, pay off medical school debt, and afford the salaries of their office employees. Finally, government agencies, looking for the elusive loop to tug on, ultimately burden physicians further with a myriad of onerous rules and regulations.
