Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/61842
Dr. Roberts' conversations with the global business community have also yielded revealing comparisons. According to Paul Grundy, M.D., M.P.H., Global Director of Healthcare for IBM, the company's costs for employee benefi ts in Denmark are one-fourth to one-third less expensive than the U.S. employee benefi ts with better outcomes and patient satisfaction. As Dr. Roberts explains, 10 years ago, Denmark invested heavily in strengthening an already sizeable popula- tion of family medicine physicians. The move allowed the country to reduce its hospital beds by 50% and actually profi t based on the cost savings in improved patient outcomes. "We tend to think of health care as helping people, but that's not really what effective health care is. Effective health care is built from relationships and having someone you know and trust," Dr. Roberts says. "A lot of what we see in the U.S. health care system is what I call 'stranger danger.' Patients often bounce from one physician to another. These physicians are well-trained and well- motivated, but if patients have providers who know them and whom they trust, the patients will do better." Close to Home Based on his global and day-to-day patient care experiences, Dr. Roberts acknowledges that family physicians are not alone in their frustrations with the U.S. health care system, nor should they be the only voices in the discussion to improve the model. "What I tell physicians is to take from the experiences of their practice. I think there is a range of places physicians can plug in," Dr. Roberts says. "An individual physician's degree of participation is going to be determined by his or her energy level." With the development of account- able care organizations, physicians can be instrumental at the local level through participation and leadership in these collaborative groups. State-level involvement is available through physi- cians' organizations — such as medical societies — where contributions can be heard by those responsible for making statewide policy. Dr. Roberts notes that there has been a recent increase of state representatives and senators with medical backgrounds. Of the current Congress, 24 members entered public service from the health care industry, including 16 physicians. "Physicians are and will always be very important in health care systems. We are leaders, and if we're going to be good leaders, we need to understand what the priorities of the system are and how to help achieve those most effectively," Dr. Roberts says. "We as doctors enjoy a privileged status because the public trusts that we are doing our best to look out for their interests. If that's not our overarching goal, then we don't deserve that trust." ■ MDNEWS.COM ■ MD NEWS San Antonio | 13