Kaiser Permenante to Open a New School of Medicine

"Kaiser officials said the new school would include hands-on experience for students in clinics and hospitals, with a focus on primary care, the use of new technologies, and physicians’ role as part of a caregiving team. Kaiser executives said they haven’t yet settled on a site for the school’s campus. “The physician will not be sitting in a lecture hall like I did,” said Ed Ellison, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “It’s taking a different approach, turning the model almost upside-down.”

The fact that a bunch of premedical students view this as a positive step in the right direction worries me.

Physicians' roles in healthcare continue to be systematically dismantled, and we are apparently more than happy to allow it. The future of physician training is trending towards "teaching young physicians early that they are no more important in medical decision making than the janitor, and that they belong at the bottom of the totem pole like everyone else."

This is like Marlboro selling kiddie toys. Get them hooked at an early age when they're naive and have no clue what's going on.

By the way, the ridiculous "turn the classroom upside down" fad that has been permeating medical schools the past few years is absurd. A bunch of administrative educators float out some theories and then push them through to get some touchy feely journal articles published out of it.

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Kaiser Permenante to Open a New School of Medicine

Kaiser Permenante to Open a New School of Medicine

Nixon's misinformation doesn't change the reality of how Kaiser works. Not every HMO is designed the same way. Kaiser has always stressed preventative care and early intervention, precisely because doctors are on salary and not paid by procedure, so there is every incentive to treat early, but no incentive to perform unnecessary tests, procedures, or surgery. There's no advantage to delaying care or providing substandard care, because so many patients are with Kaiser from cradle to grave. The sooner and better they are treated, the better for everyone involved.

It's also a completely integrated system. The hospitals and doctors, primary care and specialists, inpatient and outpatient systems all work together. There's also no need for staff to negotiate with the insurance company, since the doctors decide on their own if procedures or tests are indicated.

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Kaiser Permenante to Open a New School of Medicine