I call the special interest groups that dominate American healthcare the Government Industrial Medical Coalition (GIMeC). (I pronounce this acronym “gimmick”.)
GIMeC is made up of the following members:
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Food and Drug Administration
- National Institutes of Health
- Media
- Lawyers
- Insurance companies
- Drug companies
- Medical device companies
- Doctors
- Hospitals
- Disease Advocacy Groups
These members support each others’ beliefs and interests. The complex interaction between all these members is what makes reforming healthcare so difficult. Essentially all these members have a rarely questioned set of assumptions about the impact of the formal healthcare on people I call the POEM assumptions.
When we start to question these assumptions and act on a new understanding of the role of healthcare in America, we can finally create compassionate affordable care.
Richard,
I know that the effort of hospital lobbies are not always in the best interest of physicians. Are there any physician groups that keep an eye on the hospital lobbies in such efforts?
Solomon,
I think some hospital lobby desires are questioned by organized medicine. Trying to maintain a separation between hospital administrations and their medical staffs is one example in Texas. For other issues such as the spread of high tech high expense services — center of excellence for heart health, e.g. — the interests of the physicians and hospitals are often aligned, even if the added service is of questionable value, both from an outcomes and especially a cost-effectiveness point of view.