Brian Curtin, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Charlotte, N.C.-based OrthoCarolina, joined Becker's to discuss how physicians can leverage their power.
Question: How can physicians leverage their power?
Editor's note: This response was edited lightly for length and clarity.
Brian Curtain: First and foremost, physicians have to take on leadership roles within healthcare systems such that there is a voice advocating for patients and patient care. Many systemwide healthcare and policy decisions are made in meeting rooms full of hospital administrators or politicians with little clinical background and little understanding of repercussions on patient care.
Our professional organizations also have to remain engaged in advocacy efforts to ensure healthcare regulation and policy development is physician-led. This requires time and commitment from physicians to these organizations and the collective voice is far more powerful than any one physician alone.