Piece Description

In the last five years there's been a strong push towards regulating the type of healthcare information and the format of information between parties. But federal regulations designed to protect personal healthcare information has also prevented emergency rooms from having access. Hospitals can access old charts, if they can find them. But access to a patients primary doctors records are not accessible, even if private physicians keep records on the computer. Often, doctors have to rely on the patient for their medical history, which can lead to miscommunication about important information. The legal system has also contributed to the cost of healthcare, but not for the reason most people think. Less than one percent of our total healthcare spending goes towards malpractice. However, what it doesn't take into account is what doctors call C.Y.A. medicine, or Cover Your Ass medicine. A doctor has to order many tests even when they know they're going to come back negative, but if the test isn't done and there is a problem, the doctor can be sued. Medical school doesn't teach how to deal with being sued, and doctors go to great lengths to try and avoid it. The debt load for the cost of a medical education also creates problems. Physicians can come out of school with almost $200,000 of debt, and what that's done is kept physicians from being able to set up private practice. A single payer system might help in that it will make it more realistic for a physician to practice medicine regardless of where he or she wants to live, and they can be independent because they won't have to eliminate Medicaid and indigent people from their practice in order to be competitive and pay off their loans.