Better Health: Smart Health Commentary Better Health (TM): smart health commentary

Latest Posts

Corporate Executives Astonished By Average Physician’s Income

By Stanley Feld MD, FACP, MACE

Physicians in practice work hard and have little time for political and legal trickery. They assume their leadership will look out for their interests while they take care of patients.

The problem is that physicians do not have effective leadership, explaining the difficulties practicing physicians have every day with the healthcare insurance industry, hospital administrators, the government and the threat of liability. Most physicians are caring professionals who are not looking to rip off anyone. Physicians do expect reasonable compensation commensurate with their training, level of expertise and level of responsibility.

I recently presented a physician income survey to a group of corporate executives. The executives were astonished by the level of physician income relative to their level of responsibility.

The unanimous reaction of these corporate executives was the average physician’s income was that of a low mid-level manager. It is true some practice specialties earn more but the average income of practicing physicians is not commensurate with their knowledge and responsibility. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Repairing the Healthcare System*

Healthcare Reform, Direct Patient Care, And The Period Of Discovery

As the period of debate over the Healthcare Reform Bill ends with President Obama penning his signature, one moment from the “debate” at Blair House stands out in my mind. A Republican Congressman sitting behind a copy of the then-current reform bill –- a pile higher than 2,000 pages –- was mocked for using such a prop. It’s complicated to fix healthcare with the laconic response to his theatrics.

Things don’t appear to have grown any simpler as we settle in for a period of discovery to determine exactly what this new law spells out for us in terms of reform. There is no consensus on whether this law will help or hinder, and I’m worried.

I cannot read 2,600 pages written in legalese. I juggle my time now to keep up with the medical literature necessary to adequately do my job and I suspect other physicians struggle similarly. All doctors fight a daily battle with time, trying to care for each patient in the best way possible (this is why many of us walk so fast through hospitals and clinics.) I hope that healthcare reform doesn’t result in less time for direct patient care. Read more »

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

Read more »

How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

Read more »

See all interviews »

Latest Cartoon

See all cartoons »

Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

Read more »

The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

Read more »

Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

Read more »

See all book reviews »

Commented - Most Popular Articles