FMA responds to President Obama

During the recently completed meeting of the FMA House of Delegates, a motion was made and passed for the FMA to write a letter to President Obama expressing the FMA’s dissatisfaction with the comment he made during his July 22, 2009 press conference in which he alleged that physicians make medical decisions based on financial gain. Medical societies throughout Florida (including LSMS) signed on to the letter, which follows.

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

As a practicing physician and the President of the Florida Medical Association, I would like to express my deep disappointment over the comment you made during your July 22, 2009 press conference in which you stated:
Right now doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there.
So if they're looking -- and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, you know what, I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out. Now that may be the right thing to do, but I'd rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid's tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change -- maybe they have allergies, maybe they have something else that would make a difference.
I find your implication that physicians make medical decisions based on the approach that provides the most reimbursement insulting to the approximately 35,000 practicing physicians in the State of Florida that provide high quality health care based only on the best interests of the patient. Physicians of all specialties provide millions of dollars of uncompensated care each year in Florida through charitable networks and other organizations. In addition, most physicians provide care to patients whose particular health insurance does not cover the full costs of providing that care and this trend is even more notable for physicians who provide care via Medicaid to those in our state who are in the greatest need. For these physicians it is the patient’s needs that drive their decision making, not the fee schedule.
At the July 2009 meeting of the House of Delegates of the Florida Medical Association, physicians from all over Florida resoundingly expressed their offense over your disrespectful remarks. The medical societies listed below join in this letter to assure you that for the physicians in Florida, patient’s come first. As stated in the American Medical Association’s Principles of Medical Ethics, “A physician shall, while caring for a patient, regard responsibility to the patient as paramount.” This is a principle that we in Florida will continue to adhere to, your unfortunate remarks notwithstanding.

Our patients in Florida and across the nation deserve an accurate and far more sensitive depiction of their caring physicians by the President of the United States, whose statements impact the opinions and impressions of millions of Americans and the future of our health care system.
We still look forward to working with you and our Florida Congressional Delegation to develop and implement effective health system reform that adheres to the principles of the Florida Medical Association and the patients our physician members serve with respect and integrity.
Sincerely,
James B. Dolan, MD
President, Florida Medical Association