BUILDING THE HEALTH CARE WALL . . .

Today, I opened an email labeled, “Health Care Administration,” just to see what it was. It turned out to be an ad for both health care administrative jobs as well as continuing education. What struck me, though, was the list of organizations that were scheduled to hold “conferences.” The list included the American College of Healthcare Executives, the American Academy of Professional Coders, the American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management, the Association of Health Care Administrative Assistants, and the Medical Group Management Association.

Now, I’m sure these are all fine organizations, and I’m equally sure that the jobs performed by their members are necessary in today’s health care system in the US. What I do not understand is why coding, for example (simply telling the insurance companies what was done and why), should be so complicated that we not only need “professionals” (people who do little else)  to translate a physician’s office visit into “99214,” but they need their own organization and continuing education credits. Imagine what the cost of a hammer would be in a hardware store that operated that way.

When a system becomes so bloated and complex that its most rudimentary functions become the subjects of entire professions, the explanation for why we spend more than any other industrialized nation on health care and get the least for it stands out in stark relief.

We spend our health care dollars on meaningless bureaucracy rather than actually caring for anyone’s health. Moreover, lest anyone believe that this is merely poor (or lack of) planning, close examination reveals the real reason – greed. This is simply one more (and very effective) way for insurance companies to ration care without admitting they’re doing it. Place enough hurdles in the way of getting care and, after a while, people will stop trying and give up (and you won’t have to pay for it).

You may remember the movie line from Field of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.” The health insurance version of that is, “If you build it high enough, they can’t get through!”