May 2024
To: ALL INTERESTED PHYSICIANS
We were at a meeting at New York Hospital some years ago and one of the physician participants mentioned that he had heard the phrase “health care provider” being used to describe a cardiologist colleague. The use of the appellation troubled him as it seemed, to him, to be somewhat demeaning. This particular physician often complimented us by saying our advice was prescient. It was in this insight, however, where he was being prescient indeed.
A lively discussion followed as we were then dissecting and being critical of the “Clinton Health Plan” and its ramifications. It was our opinion that the “provider” language benefited from an outgrowth of the general Ralph Nader consumerism movement which tended to neutralize the impact of professionals and of the importance of professionals themselves.
The grouping of all persons involved in the delivery of care under the usage of one defining phrase diminishes the importance of the individual profession with the more highly skilled profession being more affected than others.
Does the melding of a phrase have economic consequences in determining insurance reimbursement? Do we lose an element of respect in the general environment? We pose the questions without, perhaps, knowing the answers but encourage thought about them.
Health care provider may be a part of our daily dialogue but one would prefer to think that based upon, literally, hundreds (thousands?), of years of the usage “physician”, or “doctor” etc., the medical profession can utilize strategies to reassert using the nomenclature of this profession which should be set apart from a generic phrase which includes all others.
Respectfully submitted,
Schaum Law Offices