Sean Kershaw's Weblog
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September 21, 2009
Why does healthcare cost so much? Here's one reason
In part, because private specialty clinics scare people with misinformation.
Letter from Amarillo Heart Group
This piece of fiction was sent to my mother-in-law in Amarillo Texas. Apparently they've also been calling her, essentially urging her to "buy-before-the-sale-ends". They are telling her she needs a procedure that her primary care physician says she doesn't need -- and that she should come in soon before healthcare reform happens and wrecks it all for her.
This is from a clinic in Texas. All the more interesting given Atul Gawande's fantastic piece in the New Yorker from June.
* Hospitals may be more expensive, I don't know, but our own report highlights how a proliferation of clinics can lead to increases in utilization -- and therefore cost.
* Notice the lack of any reference to the quality of their care, or the cost.
* Notice the number of clinics. I have to admit that I don't know the ratio of clinics/population for this area, but the Dartmouth Atlas is clear, I believe, that there's an inverse relationship between the number of heart clinics and the cost/quality of care. (Tell me if I'm wrong.)
I'm contemplating sending them an open letter. As they complain about job losses, they should publish the average salary of their lead physicians.
Finally -- just a note to the author: When you are trying to make it "convenient" to contact your legislator, don't require that people enter a url that is over 80 characters long.
Sean
Posted by Sean Kershaw at September 21, 2009 11:00 PM