musingMD is a Blog devoted to topics pertinent to practicing physicians including current controversies in medicine, finance, lifestyle, marriage, family, raising children, humor, and much more.
As a practicing Internist in the Mideastern U.S. for the past 2 decades, I don’t consider myself an expert in any one field, but rather a Jack-of-all-trades with a longstanding desire to learn, share opinions, and stimulate conversation and possibly even change. Having spent considerable years in private practice followed by employed practice, I have struggled with many aspects of medicine that I see many of my colleagues similarly experiencing. This includes declining reimbursements relative to overhead costs, bureaucratic red tape, complex government regulations, EHR’s, loss of autonomy, decreased respect from the community we treat, and increased demands placed on physicians through a system that fails to provide us an adequate voice in decision making.
As an avid blog reader and podcast listener, I have been disappointed at the paucity of resources available for practicing physicians to discuss, learn and commiserate on the challenges we face. I also can’t help but feel that some of the physician organizations that we support with our hard-earned money don’t always represent our true interests and are therefore failing us. Additionally, I believe that our voices have been fractionated and many of today’s payment models pit one specialty against another, thus further distilling our voice into ineffectual whispers in the medical debate. Furthermore, as physicians, we are trained to put our patient’s needs above all else, including our own and even that of our family, leading to the sad fact that we are often not at the bargaining table, but instead, at the patient bedside. This has allowed others, often non-physicians, to make decisions for us.
My hope is that this blog will provide insight on a variety of topics that will provide you, the reader, some knowledge, comfort, and maybe even motivation to make the changes needed to move this noble profession, which we have devoted so much of our lives to, in the right direction.
I plan to post weekly, as my current full-time practice schedule permits, and when a topic presents itself. I welcome any and all questions, comments, and suggestions.