Good business vs good medicine

Medrants has recently ranted about going to back to basics:

We need to return to first principles. The reason we became physicians was to care for people, not patients! By that I mean, caring for the patient, rather than the disease.

We need a revolution in our thinking. This revolution actually is occuring in retainer practices and cash only practices. Patients will, I believe, be willing to pay a reasonable amount to get personalized health care.

Right now, I practice in a world of “productivity”. RVUs and CPT codes have as much a place in my daily life as diabetes and hypertension. Trust me, I would love nothing more than to go back to basics, and to take my time with each patient. However, there needs to be radical change in our system before that happens. As one of my colleagues recently stated, good business does not equate to good medicine. Unfortunately in today’s environment, the business side is winning.

Unless there is radical change, good medicine will always be the square peg trying to fit into the round hole of today’s medical environment.