I am very conflicted with this law. On one hand, I completely agree with you, and that this will end up backfiring.
On the other hand, the system has continually put price caps on physician compensation to save healthcare costs. There is a little spark in me that thinks that maybe, just maybe, the execs who lobby for price caps on physician compensation will end up fighting to remove price caps in healthcare and then we can work together towards real reform.
A doc can dream of a better future where we can just focus on caring for people, instead of completing paperwork.
Haha, this is a great nuanced take! I laugh because I would have expected you to take the populist position based on the title, but this was a very thoughtful understanding on capping hospital exec compensation. And yes, there are so many internal fiefdoms that the political dynamics become so oppositional that it requires strong political operators to navigate.
My hot take: you couldn't pay me any amount of salary to be a hospital exec, which I think is one of the most morally-precarious and politically-challenging jobs, while simultaneously being something where the measures of success are impossible to meet (omg another HEDIS quality score or patient satisfaction metric). It is the worst job for people doing the worst job.
This was a fiery post (as yours usually are), but I love the balance of cynicism with deep understanding. Keep up the great work!
I am very conflicted with this law. On one hand, I completely agree with you, and that this will end up backfiring.
On the other hand, the system has continually put price caps on physician compensation to save healthcare costs. There is a little spark in me that thinks that maybe, just maybe, the execs who lobby for price caps on physician compensation will end up fighting to remove price caps in healthcare and then we can work together towards real reform.
A doc can dream of a better future where we can just focus on caring for people, instead of completing paperwork.
Haha, this is a great nuanced take! I laugh because I would have expected you to take the populist position based on the title, but this was a very thoughtful understanding on capping hospital exec compensation. And yes, there are so many internal fiefdoms that the political dynamics become so oppositional that it requires strong political operators to navigate.
My hot take: you couldn't pay me any amount of salary to be a hospital exec, which I think is one of the most morally-precarious and politically-challenging jobs, while simultaneously being something where the measures of success are impossible to meet (omg another HEDIS quality score or patient satisfaction metric). It is the worst job for people doing the worst job.
This was a fiery post (as yours usually are), but I love the balance of cynicism with deep understanding. Keep up the great work!
Appreciate that. I try to resist the knee jerk feel good populist take. Usually the economics don’t shake out.