From Venting to Amplifying the Physician Voice
by Thomas S. Higgins, MD, MSPH, MBA
Physicians are not a silent species. We are, in fact, professional-grade complainers. We vent to each other with Olympic-level stamina about administrative bloat, nonsensical metrics and legislative mandates. We have no shortage of opinions, and we certainly don’ t lack volume.
Then how is it possible for us to be systematically silenced?
The uncomfortable truth is that our voices are being consumed by the sheer crushing tax of time and effort required just to deliver excellent patient care. While we have our heads down doing the righteous, exhausting work of saving lives and fighting insurance companies for basic approvals, a slow and steady devaluation of the physician is happening right over our heads.
As GLMS Board Chair and Policy & Advocacy Committee Chair, I want to look honestly at the hurdles siphoning our collective influence and explain how changing the way we talk about our time, our autonomy and our business is the key to amplifying the physician voice.
A Distraction Slowly Creeps
We pour every ounce of our cognitive and emotional energy into our patients. But while we are entirely focused on clinical excellence, corporate forces and regulatory bodies are quietly shifting the goalposts. They are turning the physician from the undisputed captain of the ship into a line-item asset. This devaluation occurs through micro-layers of administrative friction, including the endless clicks, redundant forms and arbitrary checklists. It eats away at your day until you simply do not have a single drop of bandwidth left to fight it.
This system actively thrives on our dedication. It counts on the fact that we willingly sacrifice our time, sleep and sanity to ensure our patients get good care, and, while you are pinned down doing that, others are writing the rules that govern how you practice.
The Financial Elephant and Our Moral Injury
Physicians have cultivated a puritanical taboo around finances. We act as though mentioning the economics of healthcare somehow taints our clinical purity. We don’ t talk about it with our trainees, and we barely whisper about it with each other. In one sense, our reluctance to talk about money has a wonderful origin. Physicians possess a deeply ingrained, noble drive to provide care regardless of a patient’ s wealth
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