Quit Wasting My Healthcare

Physician & Hospital Accountability

There is a reason why healthcare consumerism has the potential to be such a powerful force for change: an empowered patient is the only person to whom a physician or hospital executive feels any accountability.

The primary purpose of both physicians and hospitals is to serve and heal patients, often in a time of individual pain or crisis.  The patient, usually at their weakest point, has to place an extraordinary level of trust in their care provider to treat them both fairly, kindly and efficiently according to his or her individual value system.  While there are many forces pushing healthcare providers, violation of a patient’s trust shakes them to the very core.

It is easy for a healthcare provider to turn the other way when patients are not educated consumers.  Unfortunately, many providers use this lack of understanding or transparency to take advantage of the inefficiency inherent in the healthcare system today.  By educating yourself and communicating your personal quality and financial values to your care provider, you are putting them on notice that you are trusting them to deliver on those values.  If they do not, they will violate your trust and lose your business.

The business of healthcare is such that the tremendous amount of upfront fixed costs (whether in physical buildings or delayed earnings due to extended education) dictate that healthcare providers must care for a high volume of patients to make up those costs.  This is why the loss of you as a patient is so critical – not only does a care provider lose an opportunity to serve and heal but they also put their financial stability in jeopardy as well.  This causes immediate change and it is the only form of accountability that I have seen move major organizations and established physicians to change the way they operate and practice.

Become an educated healthcare consumer and use your power to change healthcare for the better.