When even Newt Gingrich thinks consumers are getting ripped off, they must really be getting ripped off. His Washington Post op-ed takes on doctors who have financial interets in specialty hospitals.
I'm strongly in favor of legitimately designed specialty hospitals in which a focus on a specific set of skills and procedures enables doctors and staffs to maximize their efficiency. But I am just as strongly opposed to the emergence of specialty hospitals that create special relationships with doctors designed to cherry-pick only the easy cases for certain hospitals.
The greatest dangers arise when doctors have a direct financial interest in a specialty hospital. It's just human nature for them to increase their own income by the simple act of giving the specialty hospital -- with which they are associated and from which they draw compensation -- all the easy and inexpensive cases, while sending everything risky and expensive to the larger community hospital. It's not hard to see the financial damage this could do to community hospitals.
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