Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29
Cost Of Being Tx
Continued from Sirth Page

less than So 900. This certainly cannot be con-
Sidered adequate in view of the fact that II
cost him years of study and at least as much az
$4,000 in money to get his training
The weakness of the existing system u
therefore not based upon the lack Of physi-
Clans but rather upon uneven distribution
and the inadequate business methods and lack
of organization for handling the problems
which the profession is to meet.
Wherein lies the solution Of the many prob
lens involved? What can be done to bridge the
great hiatus which SO often exists between the
sums which Illness costs the individual and the
meager and hard-earned salary which the ply
stefan is able to collect for his labors2 As
yet the committee has no answers. It is seek
ing dependable facts upon which action can
be based
Perhaps some form of cooperative service
is the answer. The private group clinic" Is
an illustration of one of the plans now under
going actual trial.
THE private group clinic is an organization
of independent practitioners of medicine
for the coordination of services through COM
mon use of medical specialties, and the ply
scians serve on full time basis. Patients are
the responsibility Of the entire group. Although
each physician has complete independence In
his practice, the personal relationship between
patient and physician is established through
one individual member of the clinic where
ever possible. The income is collected, poole0
and administered by some business man in ac-
cordance with a prearranged plan formulated
by the physicians themselves.
Since the World War the tendency toward
the private group clinic has been growing
rapidly. Although the exact number in ex"
istence at the present time is not known, =
has been estimated at probably $50, the ma
iority of which are located in the Middle West
They vary greatly in their characteristics, IN
the number of physicians, policies, types of
service rendered, in the way they are housed,
the amounts of money invested and in the
economic motives behind their formation.
The economic advantage of the clinics from
the standpoint of the physician are immediate
ly obvious. From the standpoint of the patient
thorough examination and diagnosis can be ex-
pected without the necessity of consulting sew
eral specialists located in various widely sepa-
rated places, each of whom is likely to give
a diagnosis or prescribe a treatment entirely
unrelated TO that of the others. For instance
one young man, after being examined by ave
specialists, including an ear, nose and throat
man, blood specialist and heart specialist,
eventually found out that an operation for APP
pendicitiS necessary to cure his peculiar
condition. How much trouble, pain time and
money he would have been saved If he could
have visited all of the specialists under one
roof and have had in few hours the imnedi-
ate benefit of a related diagnosis!
Other things being ecNal, it is reasonable to
expect that such cooperative groups should be
able to render better medical care at the
same cost and probably at lower cost tEan
independent, unrelated practitioners could do
AAd the doctor, whose interest Is in his patient
rather than his fee is Selieved of the difieal-
ties of business administration.