ELEPHANTS IN THE EXAM ROOM
Wayne D. Liebhard, M.D. has been a primary care physician in a small family clinic in a Minneapolis south exurb for more than 20 years since graduating medical school at the University of Minnesota . His bachelor degree in natural and social sciences is from St. John’s University and he has involved himself in many phases of medicine, medical education, and community service. While I was in the U.S. Senate trying to change the practice of medicine by changing the way Medicare finances patient care, Wayne and doctors like him were growing frustrated. First in their efforts to meet patient needs and demands, and then by the changes in the system, in the life styles of practitioners, and the growing emphasis by folks like me in changing practice behavior from the outside in.
The book he has written is in part protest against the changes in medicine and its rewards, in part his view of the real cost-drivers in medical care, and in part a view of the role third parties are playing in removing incentives from family physicians to practice quality care. He nicely sums up the reason that the health crisis is so difficult to understand: “Because everyone has made up his (her) own set of rules by which this game should be played and there is no clear-cut referee. Everyone seems to have their own set of opinions and, unfortunately, their own set of facts. (p. 160)” For those of us who believe that community and family health professionals, not bionic medicine men, are the key to improved access, quality, and cost, this nicely-written plea by a Minnesota doc and friend is a good read.
Shakopee (Minnesota) Valley News
Section: News
Page: 15
Estimated printed pages: 12
Article Text:
Incumbent Rep. Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, is being challenged by Sue Bruns, a DFLer from Prior Lake . The district includes the cities of Prior Lake and Shakopee.
Q. Why are health care costs so high? What can or should be done to reduce them?
A. Here is food for thought: health care has been in some crisis mode ever since the Great Society introduced us to the idea that the government should be responsible for paying for our health care. Divorcing consumers … the patients … from the costs associated with their treatment and handing control over to managed-care companies has led us directly to the predicament in which we find ourselves. The only medical procedure I can think of that has gone up in quality and quantity and down in price is Lasik surgery, which, you will note, is not paid for with government dollars or HMO money. Health care is a very touchy and complicated subject, so let me refer you to what I think is the best treatise I have ever read on this subject: "Elephants in the Exam Room" by Dr. Wayne Liebhard (of Prior Lake ).
Elephants in The Exam Room is a powerful book. The author, Dr. Wayne Liebhard, picks apart the American health care system and shows why we are in a health care crisis and what needs to be done about it. What I found extraordinary about this book is that Liebhard not only candidly exposes the problems within America’s health care system, but he also offers realistic and practical solutions. I hope every American reads this book and voices their concern, even outrage, at what’s going on.
Wayne Liebhard - Press Release