Quality Metric Medical School

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Here is some interesting news.   It seems the HMO giant Kaiser Permanente plans to launch a medical school in Southern California.  The massive “nonprofit” health system doesn’t know where it will be but the first class will start in 2019.  Wow, is it that easy to start your own medical school?  And if Kaiser can do it will we see UnitedHealth or Aetna to follow?  Kaiser wants to be cutting edge on this which is administralian speak for creating Robodocs.  Examples from this Los Angeles Times article includes:

  • It will move closer to the company’s commitment of rapidly adopting new technology and adhering to the latest medical evidence in patient care.
  • “We have the opportunity to help train future physicians on 21st century medicine and be on the cutting edge of all the changes we are experiencing,” Tyson said. “Our model of care is best for the current and future diverse populations in this country.”
  •  “It’s all about the move toward population health and it’s all about teamwork. … The whole philosophy and culture is quite different,” he said..
  • Kaiser will be creating a steady supply of physicians it can hire, though its graduates won’t be under any obligation to work for Kaiser.

It’s actually brilliant.  The goal is to change medicine forever.  They will create a stream of Robodocs who think of people only as numbers and treat populations in order to control costs.  I see a future of more impersonal physicians who get paid on unproven quality metrics and whose true goal is to save their employers (hospital systems) money.  Can anyone else hear Dr. Evil laughing?