July 1997
Volume 61 |
Number 7
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TO THE MEMBERSHIP
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| Shifting Dullness |
This issue highlights the plethora of information about to be
unleashed on the membership at the ASA Annual Meeting on October
18-22, 1997, in San Diego, California. One should be rightfully
concerned about the increasing amount of time and effort utilized
for the purpose of educating members on the changing face of practice
more aptly known as socialized medicine to patients and managed
care to the for-profit companies.
Within the realm of the recent past, a prestigious medical journal
gleefully enunciated the virtues of the changes in medicine and
focused on a new entity, "The Hospitalist." The Hospitalist
is a full-time, salaried physician who provides services to patients
referred to hospitals by "Gatekeepers," thus avoiding
the "Middle Man" previously known as the "Independent
Practitioner." The Hospitalists limit their practices inside
the four walls of the hospital while the Gatekeepers never
breach the hospital fortress.
It is indeed ironic that as socialized medicine begins to falter
and exceed budgets elsewhere in the world, we are re-engineering
the wheel. In a recent report from Germany where Hospitalists
have been in vogue for ages, there is a move afoot to allow Hospitalists
the opportunity to engage in practice outside their four walls
and simultaneously allow Gatekeepers into the hospital to follow
their patients.
Anesthesiologists appear to be moving in the same direction as
they head for practices outside the hospital environs. Freestanding
ambulatory care centers and anesthesia for office-based practices
herald a new era for anesthesiologists.
Perhaps our Gatekeepers will seek to enter the hospital and fill
the void created as many anesthesiologists opt for the relatively
stress-free environment of the outside world.
Erwin Lear, M.D.
Editor
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