CORONADO, CALIF.—With the healthcare landscape morphing on a near-daily basis, panelists gathered at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting to discuss the merits and disadvantages of the fee-for-service payment model, as well as its role in the future of healthcare in the U.S.
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March 2015Members of the group touched on the importance of preserving their ability to provide patient care, the “outlier” physicians who bend or break rules for profit, and the importance of spreading awareness that a large number of factors contribute to high healthcare costs in the U.S. They tended to agree that at least some form of fee for service will continue to exist, largely because it is a good system when compared with others.
The panel was moderated by Fred Owens, MD, of the Owens Ear Clinic in Texas and incoming president of the Triological Society. Panelists were Sigsbee Duck, MD, of the Memorial Hospital Otolaryngology Clinic in Rock Springs, Wy.; Susan Cordes, MD, of Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Ukiah, Calif.; David Edelstein, MD, chief of the otolaryngology service at Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Institute in New York City; and Michael Setzen, MD, a solo practitioner in Great Neck, N.Y.