The Changing Business Model Of Health Care

By Dr. Brian McDonough, Medical Editor

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - I am often asked the question, what do I think is wrong with medicine?

Being an optimist, I like to focus on what is right. But in a way I am at a perfect point in my career to compare the past, present and future. Here is where I see a major problem and it is nationwide.

Most hospitals are going to a model where they employ physicians. For the young physicians, this is actually a great idea because it is 9-5, someone else worries about the payments and there are no start up fees. But for older physicians, the ones who worked late into the night because it was best for the patient, there is no model in the corporate world to factor this in.

Most hospitals are not used to employing physicians and, in an effort to try and pigeonhole them into set hours, are actually indirectly impacting the extra hours that doctors used to work for free.

Can an already stressed health care system pay for 24-hour physician coverage?