Doctors take issue with new language of medicine

In a recent commentary in The New York Times, Dr. Danielle Ofri, an associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, looks at how physicians view increasingly ubiquitous terms such as health care provider, hospitalist and health care consumer.

She notes the recent essay on this topic by Dr. Pamela Hartzband and Dr. Jerome Groopman in The New England Journal of Medicine.

According to Dr. Ofri... "maybe it’s splitting hairs to want to be called a doctor, rather than a provider. Yes, maybe there is a hint of paternalism in preferring “patient” over “consumer” or “customer.” And yes, there are probably grander problems in medicine that require urgent attention. But words do influence us. In a world that is increasingly depersonalized, it is ever more critical to maintain protected spheres of human interaction."

What do you think?

New Survey Projects Higher Employee Health Premiums

NYTimes featuring, Andy Webber:

“If we played our cards right, I don’t think we should need to cost-shift,” said Andrew Webber, president and chief executive officer of the National Business Coalition on Health, which includes some of the nation’s biggest employers as members.

Employers need to provide stronger incentives for workers to use primary medical care and preventive health care services.

“I don’t think employers are doing their jobs,” Mr. Webber added. “We should be getting aggressive. They need to sign up to fill out the health risk assessment and if you are chronically ill, you will have to automatically enroll in a disease management program.” Read the full post...