Healthcare Bill -- Effects on Profession?

<p>I want to preface this post by stating I am NOT interested in starting a political debate on the merits of the legislation; I am simply interested in knowing if there have been any noticeable changes since the bill was passed (drop in applications, decline/increase in spots, more people opting for other healthcare professions such as nursing or PAs over physicians, financial aid awards, etc., etc.).</p>

<p>In short: no. You do have to consider that the PPACA has only been law for a little over a year now, and that most of its provisions haven’t even gone into effect yet.</p>

<p>I agree – it’s just way too early to know what impact it’s going to have. Quite frankly, there has been virtually no impact to my practice to date since almost none of the bill has even kicked in. The only think I’ve noticed on a personal level is I don’t have to worry about my 20yo’s Medical Insurance since he now gets covered automatically for a few more years. There is so much unknown about the whole bill to plan even short term much less long term – what will survive, how will it actually be put into practice, what other provisions and amendments will be cut/added to the basic plan.</p>

<p>In my nearly 3 decade history doing this there have been so many doom and gloom predictions starting in the early 80’s GEMENAC reports which flat out said that the glut of physicians would be so bad by the year 2000 that a third of MD;s wouldn’t be able to find a good job – Med Schools were told to plan for cutting MS slots by 20+% or more. The ‘Panic’ about the Canadians taking over and ‘ruining’ everything. Now the significant undersupply of physicians is projected and everyone is arguing over the Newest Health Care bill. </p>

<p>My friend and advisor who graduated MS in the 40’s essentially said the same things have been going on since he was a college student. Med Insurance and most particularly Medicare was going to totally ruin the practice of medicine. I’ll leave out some of his more profane rants about the know it all consultants/pundits which still ring remarkably relevant even today, but he essentially pointed out that at the end of the day ‘Medicine is about Doctors and Patients working together and rest of it can go to Hades. If you go into Medicine for the right reasons, you aren’t likely to starve, most people are still going to respect you as a person (unlike lawyers and politicians and the Wall St Moguls), and most nights you’ll be able to put your head down to sleep with a happy soul. If you go into Medicine for the wrong reasons (Money) then you’re likely to be miserable in the end b/c there are just too many things you are going to have sacrifice just to do this work right and those kind of folks deserve their misery.’</p>

<p>The only thing I can appreciate on a medical student level is that some private groups are switching to electronic medical records right now as there are penalties in the new healthcare bill for groups that haven’t done it by 2012 or 2013. Otherwise, I haven’t heard the new healthcare bill being mentioned too often while on the wards.</p>

<p>“Health care bill” could refer to several pieces of legislation.</p>

<p>We have seen much activity in our hospital related to implementation of “meaningful use” of electronic medical records. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provide substantial financial incentives for meaningful use of EHR.</p>

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[PPACA:</a> Feds Issue Electronic Health Record Regs (Updated)](<a href=“King138 † Situs Slot Penyedia Pragmatic Play dan RTP No Limit City Terbaru 2024”>King138 † Situs Slot Penyedia Pragmatic Play dan RTP No Limit City Terbaru 2024)</p>

<p>Our IT department is hiring people at all levels.</p>

<p>Much talk is swirling in our community about forming an Accountable Care Organization. While the PPACA description of ACO’s is nebulous, the implementation at our facility will change our medical staff composition drastically to yield a 50:50 mix of MD’s and mid-level practioners. Our hospital is hiring CRNA’s, APRN’s and PA’s. Any students coming through our hospital can see the changes right away and make up their own minds.</p>

<p>see [Accountable</a> Care Organizations, Explained : NPR](<a href=“Accountable Care Organizations, Explained : NPR”>Accountable Care Organizations, Explained : NPR)</p>