DDDUUUHHH

Hank recently posted a short blog with a headline that stated the obvious as if it was new information. I have one to add to his list, “Physicians compensated for volume, not quality.”

Really, is this news to anyone? All medical professionals bill using the “Current Procedural Terminology” Handbook; known in the field as CPT codes. The middle name is Procedure, i.e. what you did, not the “Current Outcome Terminology” handbook. Since a physician is paid based on what he does, then he needs to have many procedures in a day in order to make money. He does so by doing more procedures, seeing more patients: volume is the name of the payment game.