Is Healthcare a Service Industry

 Until January 2023, I worked in the emergency department for 22 years. I spent most of that time in Chicago at a major trauma center and at a small hospital that served the predominately poor and unhoused. I remember when I started, being told "don't feed them too much because then they come back during too often." Then just a short time later handing people menus for them to order their food because we were competing with other hospitals for patients (customers.) I've always treated everyone equally, with compassion and care. I don't even look at what (if any) insurance you have, don't care. 

The problem is though, the care I provide is being questioned and evaluated more and more. When you get those surveys in the mail or email after a medical visit, my reimbursement is partly dependent on your answers. But read the questions carefully. Not one of them asks if you were healed, helped, made to feel better. They ask if we were kind. Did we spend enough time, answer all your questions. Was the staff that checked you in nice? While all of those things are important, why is it more important to know if we got you a blanket fast enough rather than if I identified your stroke, heart attack or put your shoulder back in place. 

A couple years ago, I had a patient ask me to perform a procedure in the ER that was not an emergency and is typically done in an office. We were absolutely swamped and he was complaining about the wait time. When I told him to follow up with his primary doctor, he said "I used to get such good service here." He complained to administration and I got my hand slapped. This was during the height of COVID.  That has never left my mind. 

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