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Revolution in Practice Management: A New Kind of Drudgery-Reply
Christian N. Ramsey, Jr, MD
Oklahoma City, Okla
Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(3):241-242.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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In reply
In his thoughtful letter concerning my article, Moore raises two important issues about the future of primary care practice. The first issue concerns the relationship between information and power. The collected wisdom is that he who has information has power. Presently, third parties have the information about the physician's practice. Whether physicians like it or not, insurers and the government have a great deal more information about individual physician practices (including the overall patterns of care and the costs of care of patients) than do physicians.
For example, these groups have built data files that show the timing and sequence of all medical procedures, medications, and hospitalizations for a given patient either during a period of 1 year or for a defined episode of care or illness. Comparing the different patterns of patient care for the same diagnoses gives these third parties information on the cost-efficiency and practice patterns of
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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