Physicians As Victims Of System?

I was reading this quote from Dr. Toni Brayer who writes a good blog called EverythingHealth which seems to paint the physician and patients as irrelevant in today’s market.  I am not sure it’s that bad, and certainly this will change with individual insurance products and more people having Medicare.

I guess the question is how much of a industry structure can be set by individuals versus the market.  Maybe, I need to ask her what the operations are that she wants to improve.

“Physicians are at the bottom of the food chain and do not have the ability to improve [the operation of the pharmacy benefit]. As I see it, PBM customers are the health plans and the pharmaceutical industry. Health plan customers are the employers or purchasers. Employer customers are the stockholders or company owners. Physician customers are the patient. Physicians and patients are out of the loop except as the user of the services. Since we are no one’s customer, in a free market we are irrelevant.”

— Toni Brayer, M.D., who has practiced internal medicine in San Francisco for more than 20 years, has served as president of the S.F. Medical Society, and is chief of staff at California Pacific Medical Center, told AIS’s Drug Benefit News.