Senate questions device maker payments to surgeons

First a disclaimer, I work for one of the DME providers in question.

Then to my comments.

The big push right now in healthcare is to reign in the cost of medical care. And despite efforts to cut costs by such things as better computer records, electronic monitoring of staff, particulary nurses, outsourcing of back-office functions, etc., the biggest cost associated with healthcare is the money paid to physicians.
Stores such as Wal-Mart are establishing walk-in clinics to provide primary care to patients by nurses, not physicians. New Jersey has had an measure on the table now for some time to permit Registered Pharmacists to prescribe certain medications directly themselves. Medical tests are being faxed and emailed to physicians overseas (particularly to India) for analysis. My own physician, part of a small two-physician practice, did a blood draw recently and then analyzed the results and changed one of my medications. My insurer refused to pay him, because they said I should have gone to a lab and had the results sent to India to one of their (non-American certified) doctors to review and advise me what to do. My doctor refused my offer to pay him as that violates his contract with the insurer. And the list goes on.
My hat is off to nurses and pharmacists, they do a tremendous job, but the reason American healthcare is the best in the world (even for those people whose physician is the local hospital emergency room)is the physicians themselves.
How much more do we have to keep cutting their incomes? Many physicians in my state spend more time working on their practice's finances than they do in continuing medical education.
Medicare and Medicaid are both looking at cutting payments to physicians as a way of cutting costs. Insurers are even encouraging patients to seek covered medical care overseas for the most expensive procedures.
Perhaps if physicians were permitted to earn incomes commensurate with their training and experience, the honest ones among them would not have to accept perks from outside vendors, whether they're payments for prescribing DME or free lunches.
Howard