News
The Way We Pay Doctors Is Hurting Health Care
For several decades, specialists in the U.S. have been paid considerably more than primary-care physicians. On average, orthopedic surgeons, cardiologists, radiologists and plastic surgeons make about twice as much as internists, pediatricians and family medicine doctors. True, most specialists train for a longer period of time than primary-care providers, but the degree of divergence in compensation has little to do with market forces or input costs. The difference has consistently been tied to how we pay for care with our emphasis on volume, procedures and technology, rather than prevention, care coordination, evaluation expertise and outcomes.
Source: The Wall Street Journal