Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

This version of health care is purely a business

Jeff Kane, MD
Physician
September 23, 2016
254 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

Many of us harbor an archaic view of what health care is, so let me offer a little history. During the past century, it’s changed from Healthcare 1.0 to 2.0, and now it’s Healthcare 3.0.

In the early twentieth century, Healthcare 1.0 was a service, though it amounted more to personal contact than effective medicine. At best, medications and procedures were hit-and-miss, so doctors relied heavily on their relationship with their patients. One of the era’s foremost practitioners, Dr. Edward Trudeau, advised his colleagues, “Cure sometimes, relieve often, and comfort always.”

After 1910, health care began to change as medical education became standardized and based on science. That style — call it Healthcare 2.0 — proved hugely successful. It brought us antibiotics, prosthetic and transplantable organs, the near-obliteration of polio, and many other benefits. I was trained in Healthcare 2.0.

Sometime mid-century, we began to realize that development of space-age drugs, equipment, tests, and procedures can’t be done without major capital investment, with the cost, understandably, passed on to the patient. Thus bloomed health insurance and the myriad other businesses attracted to medicine’s growing profitability. Slowly, Healthcare 2.0, health care as science, morphed into today’s Healthcare 3.0, health care as business.

Business increasingly penetrated medical practice until it totally swallowed and digested it. So now the institution is owned and directed not by physicians and patients, but by people who are familiar with commerce but clueless about what occurs in an examining room.

As a business, Healthcare 3.0 is about diagnosing and treating for payment, period. It’s not about services that don’t pay, like providing information, counseling, compassion, or comfort. Nor is it about supporting practitioners. It’s about making money.

So when your patients complain about having to wait till next Easter for an appointment; or that their medical and pharmaceutical bills are more crippling than their illness; or that you as physician spend a ridiculous amount of time either entering data or haggling for payment with insurance drones; or that you feel altogether disempowered and abused by the system: Reflect that none of this is accidental.

The institution is no longer geared to anyone’s health. It isn’t a service, Healthcare 1.0. And considering its inherent web of payola and conflicted interests, it isn’t objective science, Healthcare 2.0. It’s Healthcare 3.0, business.

To quote a line from The Sopranos, “Look, this is just business. It’s not personal.”

You can say that again.

Jeff Kane is a physician and is the author of Healing Healthcare: How Doctors and Patients Can Heal Our Sick System.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

How to create a modern superhero

September 23, 2016 Kevin 0
…
Next

We have no answers to these unbearable algorithms in life

September 23, 2016 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
How to create a modern superhero
Next Post >
We have no answers to these unbearable algorithms in life

More by Jeff Kane, MD

  • There’s no easy way out of the opioid epidemic

    Jeff Kane, MD
  • Turning doctors into technicians is a mistake

    Jeff Kane, MD
  • Doctors experience PTSD every day

    Jeff Kane, MD

Related Posts

  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • Turn physicians into powerful health care influencers

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Better health care for less, version 2.0

    Michael James Zema, MD
  • Health care needs more physician CEOs

    Alexi Nazem, MD
  • Health care is not a service commodity

    Peter Spence, MD, MBA

More in Physician

  • The escalating violence in health care workplaces: a critical problem facing the nation’s health care system

    Harry Severance, MD
  • Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

    Howard Smith, MD
  • Why allowing yourself to embrace discomfort is necessary for personal growth

    Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD
  • Unconventional health care, flawed studies, and biases: Navigating the complexities for optimal well-being

    Kara Wada, MD
  • Finding your ideal work-life balance: tips for prioritizing personal life and achieving professional success

    Zahid Awan, MD
  • Boxing legends Tyson and Foreman: powerful lessons for a resilient and evolving health care future

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Physician entrepreneurs offer hope for burned out doctors

      Cindy Rubin, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors aren’t to blame for the U.S. opioid crisis [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The power of coaching for physicians: transforming thoughts, changing lives

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • Unlocking the secrets of cancer conferences: an end-of-life counselor’s journey among pharmaceutical giants

      Althea Halchuck, EJD | Conditions
    • We need a new Hippocratic Oath that puts patient autonomy first

      Jeffrey A. Singer, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure

      Mark Sullivan, MD and Jane Ballantyne, MD | Conditions
    • Breaking point: the 5 reasons American doctors are dreaming of walking away from medicine

      Amol Shrikhande, MD | Physician
    • Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout

      Chandravadan Patel, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Healing trauma and reconnecting: Unmasking the impact of dissociation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why the WHO’s pandemic accord is critical for global health care

      Elizabeth Métraux | Policy
    • The revolutionary Kaiser-Geisinger deal: How health care giants are reshaping the industry and empowering patients

      Robert Pearl, MD | Policy
    • The escalating violence in health care workplaces: a critical problem facing the nation’s health care system

      Harry Severance, MD | Physician
    • Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • A pediatrician’s journey into integrative medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 2 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Could Semaglutide Help Curb Addictive Behaviors?
  • 'If the Narcan Isn't Working, Give More' and Other Myths About Naloxone Use
  • CDC: Children's Brain Infections Rose Last Winter, But Remained Rare
  • Inside the Fight Against Burnout Amid the Chaos of War in Ukraine
  • Cardiovascular Risk Models Still Fall Short for Arthritis Patients

Meeting Coverage

  • Cardiovascular Risk Models Still Fall Short for Arthritis Patients
  • De-Escalated Surgery Suffices for Low-Risk Cervical Cancer
  • More Evidence Backs Gout Benefit for Gliflozin Agents
  • Reaction to FDA's Approval of Upadacitinib for Crohn's Disease
  • CDK4/6 Extends Reach Into Early-Stage Breast Cancer
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Physician entrepreneurs offer hope for burned out doctors

      Cindy Rubin, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors aren’t to blame for the U.S. opioid crisis [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The power of coaching for physicians: transforming thoughts, changing lives

      Kim Downey, PT | Conditions
    • The hidden factor in physician burnout: How the climate crisis is contributing to the erosion of well-being

      Elizabeth Cerceo, MD | Physician
    • Unlocking the secrets of cancer conferences: an end-of-life counselor’s journey among pharmaceutical giants

      Althea Halchuck, EJD | Conditions
    • We need a new Hippocratic Oath that puts patient autonomy first

      Jeffrey A. Singer, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • “Is your surgeon really skilled? The hidden threat to public safety in medicine.

      Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD | Physician
    • It’s time to replace the 0 to 10 pain intensity scale with a better measure

      Mark Sullivan, MD and Jane Ballantyne, MD | Conditions
    • Breaking point: the 5 reasons American doctors are dreaming of walking away from medicine

      Amol Shrikhande, MD | Physician
    • Revolutionize your practice: the value-based care model that reduces physician burnout

      Chandravadan Patel, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the cycle of racism in health care: a call for anti-racist action

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Policy
    • Unveiling the hidden damage: the secretive world of medical boards

      Alan Lindemann, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Healing trauma and reconnecting: Unmasking the impact of dissociation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why the WHO’s pandemic accord is critical for global health care

      Elizabeth Métraux | Policy
    • The revolutionary Kaiser-Geisinger deal: How health care giants are reshaping the industry and empowering patients

      Robert Pearl, MD | Policy
    • The escalating violence in health care workplaces: a critical problem facing the nation’s health care system

      Harry Severance, MD | Physician
    • Is chaos in health care leading us towards socialized medicine? How physician burnout is a catalyst.

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • A pediatrician’s journey into integrative medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

This version of health care is purely a business
2 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...