Why are doctors so expensive?

You're comparing planes to human bodies, the practice of medicine with the flying of a plane?

Whether you like it or not, a medical practitioner who is in the business for over twenty years is bound to make at least one 'mistake' (how one defines a mistake is rather subjective), although they are usually lucky enough to have someone else correct or mitigate that mistake before serious harm is caused, and then they use jargon to label it an 'adverse event'.

That's what being human is all about, every human is bound to slip up eventually. Hell, even machines aren't infallable.

The standards you are demanding are impossible to meet. Nobody would want to be a doctor out of fear of litigation.

 

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Healthcare is expensive because the government, Medicare, paid doctors whatever they charged for 20 or so years. No questions asked. So doctors charged a lot and got paid a lot by the government. Now doctors charge a lot because for the past 20 years they have charged a lot.

Recently insurance companies have paid less than before but that doesn't stop doctors from charging cash paying customers a lot. In fact, the high price of healthcare has led to poor people just not paying their bills so doctors stick it to cash paying customers more to make up the difference.

 

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Are you saying the quality standards for the healthcare industry should be less than the quality standards for the airline industry? I don't think you understand quality.

Quality is not about humans not making mistakes. It is not about machines not making mistakes. Quality is about planning ahead and anticipating mistakes and preventing them before they occur. Quality does not require humans to not make mistakes. Because as you point out, humans will make mistakes. But with quality practices, human factors are built into the process. Quality is all about processes and thinking ahead, and being ahead of the curve. Quality is not unattainable, the Six Sigma standard is not unatainable. It is a reality and is the standard in many of our processes and services today. Six Sigma is about processes and inputs not about humans or machines making mistakes. Medicne today despite its many technology advances to treat diseases is still all about the physician and not about the processes that produce quality patient care. Six Sigma standards need to be applied to the healthcare industry as part of any reform package. We need to look at how we can better deliver healthcare services and apply our knowledge of quality processes and technology to reduce cost and improve healthcare delivery. I am sure this send shivers down the spine of any physician. It means that they will have to compete in the market place just like the rest of us.

Today as with Wall Street, government has placed the medical fox in charge of the medical hen house.

 

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