President’s Message
AMM President
I have to admit that watching the television show “House” is one of my guilty pleasures – I enjoy the unraveling of a medical mystery and the quirky and dark character of Dr. Gregory House played so brilliantly by Hugh Laurie. But I’m acutely aware that the “House” model of overindulgent, no holds barred trial and error medicine reflects the troubling overutilization that drives American health care. That excess has contributed heavily to the dilemma we face as a nation today, where fixing our health care system will likely be a $1 trillion expense.
As Americans, we like to believe we have the best medicine in the world. Like our supersized fast food meals, we think that more is better. More tests, more procedures, more physician visits, more specialists, more days in the hospital. And we have more – more than double the costs of other industrialized nations. But like fast food, more is not better for you. We don’t have the best medicine by any health outcomes measure. We don’t have the best access, we don’t have the best life expectancy, we don’t have the best infant mortality and we don’t have the best quality. Our survival rates for diseases like coronary artery disease are low and we have a national epidemic of lifestyle-related issues like diabetes, asthma and obesity.
Dr. Bettencourt, our new Medical Director whose field is emergency medicine, told me that in the ER he sees the extremes of the “haves” and “have nots” in health care. There are the patients who have little or no health insurance who neglect their health until they present in the ER in crisis with multiple problems that could have been prevented with appropriate treatment. In contrast, the insured patients present in the ER expecting the type of excessive overtreatment they see on television. American consumers -- at least those with health insurance -- have come to expect that every headache is immediately treated with a $1,000 MRI to search for an esoteric disease rather than “take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” It may make good television viewing but it isn’t good medicine. Whatever comes of the current health care reform proposals, there is general agreement on all sides that proper management of chronic diseases along with prevention and wellness efforts are necessary for the future health of the nation.
At AMM, our goal has been to curb the excess and match the patient with the proper treatment -- treatment based on solid medical evidence. Our objective also is to prevent the need for crisis care by promoting wellness and the clinical management of chronic conditions. We embrace any changes that will advance these efforts and we look forward to a time when appropriate health care is available to everyone.
