The American Society of Clinical Oncology is creating guidelines for talking about costs of treatments with their patients. This is a good thing. Money has faced the same hurdles as talking about health, not politically correct. Doctors should talk about money, it should not be the unspoken subject because it is declasse, because it runs a distant second to "health", or because the medical services industry has long divorced itself from showing its business side to its clients, the patients. Health services is a business and doctors and other health services providers are making loads of money providing their services.
As the paying for health services crisis continues, the health services industry has proven itself an active participant in arguing for, defending and suing to protect its interests in payments. Open dialogue about health services from those financially profiting from such services is absolutely a step in the right direction in reducing the stigma of talking about money and bringing those who profit from the health services industry out in the open concerning their profit motive.
The new approach does not change anything, it just spells out the truth...health services are about profit. While doctors have tried to preserve their cache, being above the money concerns of their industry, recent events with insurance companies has refocused attention on the blank check that an MD has often created. Patients who survived an illness were hesitant in some frightened superstitious reaction to point out that they paid and paid and paid, and would have paid even if treatments was ineffective or unnecessary. Health care services are not provided out of the goodness of someone's heart, though the provider may have a good heart, they are a service that the patient pays for. While it's informative to watch the AMA scrap with insurance providers and patients regarding the preservation of their big paychecks, while it's interesting to note that over-testing is often about physicians protecting themselves from malpractice claims (defensive medicine), these lessons empower patients. Nobody listens to other service providers without questioning approach or price, only medical. Overcoming the natural tendency of a patient to see the physician as hero will make patients better participants in their own health than any other act. The passive patient days have passed and this is a good thing. While the discussion of cost for now will only be doctors talking about what other providers charge, such as the cost of chemo, simply reminding patients that it's about money is good.
