Originally posted by rad_one
The question is why do physicians keep agreeing to sign off on anything these midlevel "practitioners" do? We younger physicians need put a stop to these advances onto our territory.
No doubt. The answer to your question is that many doctors are looking to make as much money as quickly as possible and then cash out. They simply have no long term interest in the profession.
Take for example the MGH fools who are outsourcing radiology. It was the head radiologist's CHOICE to do this--this was NOT something that came down from hospital management. He doesnt give a damn about the long term viability of the profession, he is only interested in making quick $$$.
Same deal with teh MDs who rubber stamp PA procedures. The PAs give them a cut of the revenue, and the MDs can supervise dozens of PAs simultaneously and make some serious $$$.
Sounds good right? Well it is good at FIRST, but eventually the PAs/NPs wise up and go to the state legislatures. They say "hey look our supervising docs are letting us do procedures X, Y, and Z and they are just signing charts over the internet and never following up with our patients! therefore, we deserve more autonomy"
the state legislatures take a look at that and say "yep, obviously teh docs dont have a problem with it because they allow such loose supervision. Consider it done"
This takes a few years to happen, and the original supervising docs who gave rise to all this madness have already made their $$$ and retired. They dont give a rats ass about what the rest of us have to deal with 20 years later as a result of their foolish transgressions.
Midlevel providers would not be where they are today without doctors GREED. Too many doctors looking to make money quick and cash out before the changes come along that allow midlevels to cut into more of our turf. Once that happens, the money train for doctors dries up. But the original docs dont care; they are already retired and living large by then.
