As physicians are being graded on complications from procedures, they are becoming less aggressive with treatment interventions. The patient loses, again:
A new study in the February 2008 issue of the American Heart Journal shows that cardiologists in New York State are less willing to aggressively treat patients with severe heart attacks than cardiologists in other states, and that the mortality of these patients is significantly higher in New York. The authors of the report attribute this reticence to treat to the existence of public report cards in New York, which publish doctors’ names alongside their procedure-related mortality figures.
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Desguised as patient advocacy, such listings are really about cost savings. New York cardiologists do less procedures on such types of patients resulting in less cost.
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