Shivan J. Mehta, MD, MBA and David A. Asch, MD, MBA
Outcome-based payment more closely aligns payments with what patients want, which is better health rather than more health care. But these approaches remain challenging to implement.
Measuring outcomes alone is not the answer. There should be a way to reward the doctor for educating a patient about lifestyle modifications and then documenting that the care provided followed patient preferences.
The picture that emerges from study of physician economic behavior is mixed, but from the intensity of responses by some professional societies to Medicare's coding modifier proposal, it appears that economic incentives matter a lot to many of their members.
The casebook developed by the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics provides a comprehensive instrument for teaching medical business ethics decision making by exploring the effects of relevant variables on medical practice and research and reflecting on the values and motives that influence the behavior of health care professionals.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(8):744-749. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.8.medu1-1508.
The American Medical Association Code of Medical Ethics’ opinions on physicians’ self-referral and physicians’ sale of health-related and non-health-related products from their offices.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(8):739-743. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.8.coet1-1508.
The case of Johnson v Kokemoor illuminates the conflict between patients’ right to informed consent and clinicians’ need to learn through practice, a conflict that possibly could be resolved through greater transparency about clinicians’ experience or experience-dependent medical fees.
The Anesthesiology Quality Institute contributes both to local quality improvement in the practice of anesthesiology through data collection and establishment of benchmarks and to patient safety in partnership with the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(3):248-252. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.3.pfor1-1503.