Are you a “PROVIDER” or a “PHYSICIAN”

Dear CSS Colleagues:

I am enclosing a short article sent to me by one of our colleagues, Uma Srikumaran, MD, MBA, MPH. Uma is concerned, as am I, about the perception of what we do as physicians and surgeons. We are living in a time where all of us are being pegged as “service providers” and are at great risk of commoditization.

It will be important to see what the AAOS and our Specialty Organizations think about this. Many of our hospital leaders are, or were, doctors. Do they think we are “providers” or “physicians”? The peculiar business model here is that patients, while presumed to be the “customer”, are not treated as customers in terms of knowing what they want and need. Moreover, a third party (agnostic to these issues) is actually the payor for the service rendered. That is not the way most business models work.

When I was president of the ASES in 2012, it was Bernie Morrey who said that we (ASES members) should be “the arbiters of shoulder and elbow care.” Calling us providers further reduces our control and impact on the factors affecting care of our patients.

Let me know what you think….

Kind Regards,

“JP” Warner, MD

Founder, The CSS

Promoting Trust and Morale by Changing H.

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