Critique of Dr Craig E Samitt's Article 'The Physician Executive'

Advancements in technology have made it possible for people to access medical information, communicate with their doctor, manage and track diseases, seek help, and maintain anonymity. Technology has facilitated the tracking of medical information, for example, Kaiser Permanente uses a computerized system to store and track patient information. Any doctor in a

Over the course of our countries history, the delivery of our health care system has tried to meet the needs of our growing and changing population. However, we somehow seem to fall short in delivering our goals of providing quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to our citizens. The history of our delivery system will show we continuously changed the delivery of our system however never mange to control cost. If we can come up with efficient ways to cut cost, the delivery of quality care will follow.

The implications and effects on patients waiting long hours to be seen in the ED are immense. In a recent study done over five years in Ontario hospitals showed the risk of adverse events and even deaths increased with the length of stay in the ED (Science Daily, 2011). When EDs become overcrowded the quality of care changes and declines; which is extremely dangerous. Authors of the study calculated that if ED length of stay was cut by only an hour that 150 fewer Ontarians would die each year (Science Daily, 2011). Wait times can also negatively affect patients financially, untreated medical conditions can lead to reduced productivity and inability to work leading to increased financial strains (Fraser Institute, 2014). As well as delayed access to care can result in more complex interventions needed. Therefore an initiative is needed to provide patients with timely, efficient care when accessing

People should not feel this way when entering a hospital or doctors office. They should feel like they are going to be given the best care and treatments possible. It is important to recognize the causes of this problem to create a solution.

St. Mary’s Regional Health Center have restructured the way health care services are fulfilled. We exist to improve the efficiency of healthcare services, by simply, focusing on the needs of our society. By redefining the way healthcare is delivered, we can better serve our community by offering a variety of services We intend to provide treatment options that are cost-effective, treatment that is relevant, and consistent with our objective and vision for this healthcare facility. Thank you for allowing St. Mary’s Regional Center to continue to serve you.

Cleveland Clinic moved into reorganizing all services into multi-disciplinary teams based on the patients perspective and disease systems called Institutes. It moved into Clinical Institutes and special expertise institutes This allowed clarity to patients and they knew where to go to get the care that they needed. On top of this, there was also "Support Institutes" created that would provide support to the Clinical Institutes.

I found it quite interesting that you mentioned Dr. Changs idea to help patients be treated more efficiently and effectively. Individual waiting in the waiting room is definitely an issue, and will continue to be a problem

One of the most frequent complaints heard from patients involves waiting to see a healthcare provider. No one likes to wait, yet even the most efficient scheduling systems cannot prevent waiting time once the patient arrives for an appointment. On your next visit to see your primary care or specialty care provider, take note of the waiting room. What could make the waiting experience better? What improvements can you see right in front of you? Here is the catch: the idea you come up with cannot cost more than $100 in total.

This study was an interesting one that looked at one aspect of health care that most people notice on a daily basis; long wait times. The researchers were wondering if the waiting times correlated at all with satisfaction ratings of physicians and also their inclination to return to that center for care. It was a large sample that rated the health care provider on many different areas of their overall experience. One main question the researchers were looking for was this: Should the providers limit time spent with the doctor for each patient in order to ease wait times? The study found that it should not since the best predictor of overall satisfaction was time spent with the physician. However, patients that had longer waits were less satisfied than their short wait counterparts, even when time spent with doctor was held constant. It shows that while time with doctor has the most predictive value, waiting time can still contribute to the overall

The front desk near the admissions department was always crowded with the patients as there was only one receptionist to handle the crowd. This created a sense of disturbance to other patients in the waiting

After patients are referred to surgery, their situations are examined if they have non-life threatening condition they will be admitted on a first-come, first serve basis. But, if their conditions are potentially life-threatening, they will entered in to a priority waiting list [1]. Higher priority-patients will be selected for service ahead of those with a lower priority, regardless of when they are placed on the list. And, the same priority patients are ranked in the arrival order [1]. Prioritization of patients on waiting lists and their access to treatment based on various factors is one of the major issues within healthcare organizations. According to US National Library of Medicine, [2] access to treatment is defined as “the degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to, and to receive care and services from the health care system”. Fraser Institute [3] reported that the total waiting time in Canada in 2013 was 95 % longer than in 1993. And also Russell et al. [4] in their recent study indicated an increasing imbalance between demand for, and availability of access to elective surgery for lower urgency elective procedures. This imbalance cause long waiting time and consequently, waiting of some patients longer than clinically recommended waiting times [4].

•     Only 5% of physicians in solo or small group practices of three or lesser in size currently use some form of electronic medical records

In the past few years, hospitals across the country have advertised emergency room “reservation” systems to provide access to care year round regardless of the doctor’s office appointment availability. I believe this confirms my opinion that there is truly more supply of care in the medical profession than the actual demand. While it may seem backwards that there is more supply of care when considering the scarcity of open appointment times at doctor’s offices, there are still medical staff in the hospital and other outpatient care facilities that are not necessarily being utilized to their full potential. According to the indifference curve, many people would be satisfied with convenient care at a low cost by scheduling an appointment through their primary physician. However, this is not always possible. Even though individuals would prefer seeing their primary care physician for almost any ailment or condition, sometimes that is not possible. If individuals are involved in accidents or require immediate medical attention they require the care of an outpatient clinic or emergency room physician to return to normal activities and become healthy again. Though they prefer the care of their primary physician due to the fact that the patient has probably been to them for almost any checkup or health emergency, they would still accept the care of the emergency room team, given their level of satisfaction with the care provider is as high as

The Hospitals should develop an advanced appointment system to resolve the difficulties of overfull clinics and long working hours.

I. As a human being, physicians after all will tap the wrong key on their key board. Moreover physicians must have a smart phone, or portable notepad, which will be an additional cost.