The Physician: The Captain of the Team

Victor Fuchs and Karen Eggleston

Chapter 4 in Who Shall Live?:Health, Economics and Social Choice, 2023, pp 53-72 from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.

Abstract: More than 4½ million men and women from some two hundred occupations are employed in the delivery of health services in the United States. One type of health professional — the physician — plays a unique role. Although physicians account for only 8 percent of health service employment, their actions and decisions are of critical importance to the entire system. The term “health team” is sometimes only a figure of speech, but the “captaincy” by the physician is beyond doubt. It is impossible to understand the problems of medical care without understanding the physician. And it is impossible to make significant changes in the medical field without changing physician behavior…

Keywords: Health; Economics; Health Economics; Health Care; Health Policy; Medicine; Medical Care; Health Systems; Health Insurance; Pandemic; COVID-19; ACA; Obamacare; Health Expenditures; Health Care Spending; Health Care Utilization; Health Outcomes; Life Expectancy; Mortality; Social Choice; Innovation; Personalized Medicine; Opioids; Opioid Epidemic; Deaths of Despair; Health Disparities; Social Determinants of Health; Hospitals; Doctors; Physicians; Patients; Polarization; Partisan Politics; Values; Inflation; Poverty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I1 I13 I15 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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