Income or Outcome?
When physicians and other healthcare providers begin to focus on income rather than outcomes, we lose sight of why we are there. If we consistently provide excellent care, a reasonable income will follow. But income must never be the priority. The patient must always come first.
Sadly, I have watched this change in recent years. I remember coming to the hospital one Saturday morning to make rounds when a fellow physician stopped me and asked quite bluntly, “Nick, why are you here on a Saturday? Don’t you have enough money by now?”
That question told me far more about his priorities than it did about mine. I was there because my patients were there. They did not stop needing care simply because it was Saturday. What concerns me most is that I fear his attitude is no longer the exception.
Of course, physicians and other healthcare professionals want—and deserve—to earn a good living. We accept years of education and training, long hours, enormous responsibility, and considerable personal sacrifice. There is nothing wrong with being fairly compensated for that work. But compensation must remain a consequence of providing excellent care, never the reason for providing it.
The moment income becomes the goal, patients risk becoming customers, procedures become products, and medical decisions can be influenced by what is most profitable rather than what is most appropriate. That is when medicine begins to lose its way.
Our goal must always be the same: to listen carefully, make sound decisions, and provide the best possible care for every patient. Income may follow excellent care—but it must never lead it.