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Future of American medicine holds important role for medical specialists
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PHILADELPHIA — Despite concerns over the continued increase in the cost for health care, challenges related to access and the looming expansion of coverage planned for 2014, Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said American medical specialists have a bright future.
During a presentation at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 21st Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress, Wilson, who is immediate past-president of the American Medical Association, discussed three points to support his theory that there is a role for the medical specialist in the future.
“The first is science,” he said, “In my practice, over the decades the new things science has presented us with that allow us to care for patients, cure disease and relieve suffering continue to flow out at an ever-increasing stream, and I see no reason that’s going to decrease. In fact, it may well accelerate.”
He used genomic — or personalized — medicine as an example, noting that it is now possible to map the sequence of the human genome, giving experts the ability to develop tests to improve diagnoses and individualize treatment, all of which will be done by medical specialists, not surgeons.
His second point was that demographics of this country favor the need for new science.
“We have an aging population; a baby boomer turns 65 every 8 seconds beginning this last January. With aging comes an increase in chronic non-communicable diseases like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, strokes and hypertension; these are things that will increase both in absolute numbers and in a percentage of the population; these are things medical specialists take care of and will increasingly take care of.”
He also mentioned the obesity epidemic and its ties to adult onset diabetes, two diseases that are particularly important to endocrinologists.
Wilson’s third point is that the new structure of health care in the US will favor the medical specialist. New ways to coordinate care and provide continuation of care will need to be developed, and medical specialists will organize themselves around the patient to provide more rational care that occurs at the right time and with the right patient, he said.
“Private industry is going down that road already to get a handle on the increased cost of care by implementing things called accountable care organizations; the Affordable Care Act is already providing an impetus to that to restructure medical care. This kind of restructuring is the thing the medical specialist will clearly have an important role in. It will not be easy; there are challenges, certainly for endocrinologists from a standpoint of reimbursement and adequate fellowship programs, which have decreased over the years. We need to work on those.” – by Stacey L. Fisher
For more information:
- Wilson CB. Future of medical specialists in American medicine. Presented at: the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists 21st Annual Scientific and Clinical Congress Meeting; May 23-27, 2012; Philadelphia.