Doctor increases profits through compassion: Part I

November 3, 1:54 PMPhiladelphia Health ExaminerThomas Hartmann

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photo:  The Guardian 

A retired Philadelphia-area pediatrician has done some hard thinking about his life in medicine and concluded that many of America’s health care problems could be solved by doctors’ spending proper time with their patients.

His experience in medicine is that “practicing good medicine can be practicing cost-effective medicine. Time spent asking questions can reap huge savings.”
He cites the example of a friend who continues to limp on a fractured ankle after two months and three office visits. The friend's doctor, rather than reviewing the case and finding out what had happened between visits, ordered an MRI and left for another ‘examination room’.

“These days everyone sends out for an MRI. MRI’s cost $500-$1000 dollars. Canada has as many MRI machines in the whole country as we do in the Philadelphia area, and they seem to get by just fine.”
Concerning the friend’s ankle, he said “I’m just a pediatrician, but I would have asked ‘do you do much walking? Are you improving, even slowly? Maybe you just came out your cast too early.’”

Ted Robinson, 71, of West Chester, graduated from Haverford College in 1959, was educated at Penn medical school, and then did his internship and training in the Army. He worked stateside during the Vietnam conflict, treating the children of soldiers. He retired after 37 years in 2005.
At one point, Robinson’s practice was part of the HMO Philadelphia Health Plan. The success his practice, “Kids First”, was built on the incentives that the HMO system provided for cutting costs.

“We stay open seven days a week so clients did not have to use the emergency room. It can cost a thousand dollars just to be seen in an emergency room,” Robinson said.
He found that he could save even more expense by following up with phone calls to make sure his patients were OK. “Otherwise, I couldn’t sleep at night,” he said.