The physician's perception of health care

A general malaise appears to have settled on the American medical scene; most Americans continue to trust their own physicians but do not trust the medical profession or the health system as a whole, while many physicians feel harassed by the regulatory, bureaucratic, or litigious intrusions upon the patient-doctor relationship. The strains on mutual trust among physicians, their patients, and the public are being played out against a background of contradictions. The advances of biomedicine are offset by the neglect of social and behavioural aspects of medical care. Preoccupation with specialized, hospital-based treatment is accompanied by isolation of public health and preventive interests from medical education and practice. Society remains uncertain whether health care is a right or a privilege while accepting public responsibility for financing the health care of certain groups such as the indigent sick (Medicaid), the elderly (Medicare), Native Americans, or members of the armed forces and veterans. Rising expectations about better outcomes through advances in technology are accompanied by rising anxieties about cost, appropriateness of care, access, and quality. Physicians must alter their perception of health care by adopting a population-based approach to need, a commitment to restoring equity in staffing patterns and compensation between primary care and specialty care, and adoption of a social contract that provides for full access by all Americans to basic cost-effective preventive and clinical services before spending on less cost-effective services.