Don't call this doc a "provider."

[JimG]

"As a physician, I am proud of the degree I earned. Upon graduation from medical school, my diploma conferred the title of physician and medical doctor, it did not say “provider.”

https://thedeductible.com/2019/02/08/if-you-call-me-a-provider-i-will-assume-you-are-a-nazi/?fbclid=IwAR3jJLlJE7JBP5IYyLzjzv7eG31X-GABHRa6Gtirh1bguO8juIFAZyLTpS4

 

[Irishmom2]

Interesting article. That term has always bothered me as well. This quote from the link hit the nail on the head:

“Because physicians are a conduit for insurance companies, hospitals, and even the government, to maintain the flow of money from patients in the healthcare marketplace. The word “provider” also encourages us to consider health care as a commodity and the physician-patient encounter as more business transaction than relationship, which must be grounded in trust and mutual respect. Physicians must not surrender professionalism to commercialism.”

 

[christofirst]

I always thought the now ubiquitous term “health care provider” had more to do with insurance companies, HMOs and PPOs trying to expand the role away from only doctors to include less expensive options such as nurse practitioners. I figured it was more about saving money than anything else.

 

[JMMJ]

I think the term “provider” is used because it covers a wide range of healthcare professionals. It could be doctor, but it could also be a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist, a pharmacist, a psychologist, etc. It really applies to anyone “providing” service under your health insurance policy. I don’t really see a problem with it. It is a business term, as opposed to a medical term.

 

[Irishmom2]

Well, I think that is the point. Some doctors are more than a business. They genuinely care for and spend time with their patients. They aren’t just a business to them.

But the term provider in the link is something entirely different.

 

[JimG]

I always thought the now ubiquitous term “health care provider” had more to do with insurance companies, HMOs and PPOs trying to expand the role away from only doctors to include less expensive options such as nurse practitioners. I figured it was more about saving money than anything else.

Yes, that too. There is also the fact that a lot of physician practices are being bought up by hospitals so more and more docs are becoming employees. To that extent they are less free to exercise independent medical judgment. And some docs are going to direct primary care and similar practices which take no insurance whatever, and provide care for a monthly fee, including routine procedures and drugs, which often costs less than practices with third party payers.

 

[Titivillus]

The most recent time the word “provider” caught my ear was in coverage of some of the recent abortion legislation.

Rather than the typical trope of a decision “between a woman and her doctor”, someone (the governor of VA? a news commentator? someone else?) said the “choice” about how a pregnancy should end should be a decision “between a woman and her provider”

Because – You know – There is no reason an abortionist need be a doctor. He could just be a technician who knows how to operate the suction machine. The pay’s the same.