As physicians we decide which tests or treatments go on the bill but have little idea how our decisions impact what patients pay. Now patients, payers, and policymakers are demanding that we consider the cost of our recommendations.
AMA Journal of Ethics editor Audiey Kao, MD, PhD, interviewed Richard Pan, MD, MPH, about how, as a physician and legislator, he seeks to protect public health in light of recurrent outbreaks of vaccine-preventable infectious diseases.
Physician partners in a clinical practice should consider the ethical implications of joining a hospital system-based ACO, including whether there will be pressure to consider the hospital system’s bottom line.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):622-629. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.bndr1-1507
Physician report cards (PRCs) provide comparative metrics that may help physicians in making referrals, as long as the referring physician understands the PRC limitations and the inconsistencies among PRCs from different institutions and locations.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(7):608-615. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.7.ecas2-1507.
Physician employment adds a practice management stakeholder to the patient-physician encounter, a stakeholder whose financial interests differ from those of physicians in solo or group practice.
Jodi Halpern, MD, PhD and Richard L. Kravitz, MD, MSPH
Just as people frequently support political parties without endorsing their entire platforms, perhaps physicians can support a health care advocacy organization without agreeing with its screening guidelines.
This month, AMA Journal of Ethics theme editor Jacquelyn Nestor, a fifth-year MD/PhD student at Hofstra-Northwell School of Medicine, interviewed Allen Buchanan, PhD, about how we can safely explore cutting-edge biomedical enhancements.