The Greater Good by Pat Conrad MD

collectivism4

From the Institute of Medicine web site:

  • “Established in 1970, the IOM is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, which was chartered under President Abraham Lincoln in 1863.”
  • “The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is an independent, nonprofit organization that works outside of government to provide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public. “
  • “The Federal Government continues to be the main source of program support, providing 55 percent of the funds in fiscal year 2013.”

These three statements establish that the IOM was an early part of the federal government overstepping its bounds as an institutionalized busy body; that it is mission statement is as explicitly corrupt as its work. One cannot work “outside” of government when that government is your largest revenue stream.

Remember these IOM jerks? They’re the ones that used that much ballyhooed 1999 safety report as the lever to cram MOC’s down our throats. In the tradition of that good work, here is their new initiative, noted in the 12/14 “Family Practice News”: “IOM recommends social factors to include in EHR’s.”

These tax-payer funded scammers now claim that electronic health records should track “12 social and behavioral determinants … educational attainment, financial resource strain, stress, depression, physical activity, social isolation, intimate partner violence (for women of reproductive age), and neighborhood median household income.” The IOM claims that knowing this stuff can help develop policies that will improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

– Incredibly, the IOM committee is seeking to use this info to “help reduce the data collection burden for patients and providers.” Anyone who can make sense of that is missing a star career in government.

This report is intended by the “independent” IOM for use by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to set EHR meaningful use requirements. In other words, this idiotic, intrusive garbage will be used to take money from doctors.

– The IOM “acknowledges that it will take more time during a patient encounter …but concluded that the health benefits of addressing these determinants outweigh the added burden to providers.” Compare this statement to the one above where the committee chairman said it would reduce the collection burden.

The arrogance and ability to inflict harm possessed by the IOM seems to have no limit. What damn business could it possibly be of the IOM to track education level or median income? What if I do not care about my patient’s “financial resource strain” (I don’t – I’m too busy worrying about my own, thanks in no small part to the IOM).

The IOM is literally the dehumanizing beast predicted in Atlas Shrugged as the “State Science Institute.” These are seriously bad people, engaged in evil work.