The physician's role in health care reform

Health care in the United States is in crisis. The desire to provide care continually conflicts with the need to contain costs. Historically, physicians have opposed the demand for health care reform, and although many physicians have responded to the current crisis with ambivalence, apathy, or frustration, they have the knowledge, capability, and opportunity to advocate for and to effect reform within the health care delivery system. Many believe that the acknowledgment of costs as a factor in treatment decisions compromises their role as patient advocates, but in the face of increasing government controls and the corporatism of medicine, the human link between physician and patient is even more valuable. The current crisis in health care necessitates cost control. If physicians conscientiously undertake their political, professional, and personal roles, they can reform the health care delivery system in the United States while compassionately advocating for their patients.