The Collapse of Big Law: A Cautionary Tale for Big Med
To professionals who choose careers in fields such as law, medicine, and teaching, it is demoralizing to be treated as a unit of production. Even some of the lawyers earning millions of dollars report that they find little or no fulfillment in the work they do.
.. Medicine lags behind the law by several decades, but it is now proceeding down the same path. Rankings are playing an increasing role in how medical schools and hospitals assess their performance. We know a hospital that regularly scoffed at such polls until one year it fell in the rankings. Almost immediately, it began taking steps calculated to restore its former status. We know a medical school dean whose annual report regularly focuses on breaking into the “Top Ten.”
Medicine has developed its version of PPP, as well. It is known as the RVU/FTE, or relative value units per full-time equivalent.
.. If current trends persist, it won’t be long before health systems will begin widely touting their standings in the RVU per FTE race. Hospitals and medical practices will be placing increasing pressure on their physicians to ratchet up productivity, another euphemism for the amount of revenue they generate. Physicians who care for the poor, take their time, and get to know their patients are likely to suffer in the rankings.