Meaningful Extortion
Leave it to Massachusetts to be at the forefront of physician extortion:
New legislation recently passed by the Massachusetts House would modify an existing law that requires physicians to demonstrate electronic health record use as a prerequisite for licensure, according to a report from the Massachusetts Medical Society.
This is what some states are doing now. Since WE do not control the licensing of our own profession, the states are using this leverage to make doctors do whatever they want. So if you are not proficient in your EMR use then…poof…you can’t practice medicine. This is a slippery slope and should be fought hard. Next thing you know they will be randomly drug testing doctors. Whoops, they are already trying that in California.
How are we letting this happen to us? I am amazed and embarrassed.
Remember, whomever is holding the leash is the owner.
Almost every piece of sublime idiocy in medicine is a linear extrapolation from the infamous Mr. Flexner and his report to the Educational Committee of the Carnegie Foundation. The “Flexner Report” came from the group that make American Public Education what it is today.
He was not a physician; he had never entered a medical school until he was commissioned to write the report. He was a famous headmaster. The structure of State Boards and AMA is to a great degree his innovation.
And it it no surprise that the leash is sturdy. Flexner envisioned medicine as an essential need of the State, and therefore should be controlled by State authority. Originally used as “fitness to practice,” the concept of Boards has expanded naturally according to integrate the physician with the Public Health needs as determined by the States. It is all going according to plan.
However, nobody has addressed “the plan” other than to bow to Mr. Flexner’s Report. We ought to look at it – it’s been a century.
Disgusting.
I specifically became a doctor so that I could avoid all of that bullshit, and now it seems to be chasing me.
Soon there will be no meaningful difference between practicing medicine and stocking shelves at WalMart, other than a marginally higher salary.
Why bother?