Page 9 - Delaware Medical Journal - January 2018

PRESIDENT’S PAGE
RICHARD W. HENDERSON, MD
MSD President Richard W. Henderson, MD is an Obstetrician and Gynecologist who practices at Saint Francis Healthcare.
Thinking and Acting Anew
Note: This is the Incoming Presidential address presented December 2, 2017 at the Medical Society of Delaware Inaugural Gala.
Iam humbled by this honor and the opportunity to serve as the 174th President of the Medical Society of
Delaware, the third oldest in the U.S. If we really want to press the issue, we could make a convincing case for being number two, behind only our friends from New Jersey, as the oldest!
This has been an amazing year in health care and it’s not over yet. Here in Delaware we have a new Governor, and his administration is laser-focused on reducing health care costs for the state through its proposed “Road to Value” plan that was submitted to the Joint Finance Committee on December 15.
At the national level, a tremendous amount of time, energy, and political capital has been spent on the efforts to either repeal or replace all or parts of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. Those efforts continue.
The ACA is the most comprehensive health legislation passed in this country since the bill that created Medicare
and Medicaid was signed by President Johnson more than 50 years ago. However, that legislation was primarily an insurance bill that had no major impact on the practice of medicine.
I think it would be fair to say, that’s not the impression physicians today have of either the ACA or MACRA,
the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act that was passed in 2015 to replace the SGR.
MACRA represents the largest change in health care policy since the ACA
was passed. Through MACRA and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS, payments will be transitioned from the current fee-for-service model to one that rewards quality and improved outcomes.
Both the ACA and MACRA are examples of the rapidly changing health care landscape that has contributed to a growing sense of uncertainty about both the present and future of medicine and health care. The “corporatization” of health care and concerns about our workforce are also factors adding to that level of uncertainty.
The consolidation, mergers, and acquisitions of hospitals and health
care systems has led to the term, the “corporatization” of health care. This includes the rapid adoption of “corporate speak” that has transformed patients
into “consumers” and physicians into “providers.” These are terms I will not use during the coming year. A consumer is calculations of a business equation and has no power except in the aggregate. A patient, on the other hand, is a person with whom we, as physicians, are privileged to have a relationship over time and often, generations.
As for physicians, the last time I checked, none of us graduated from “Provider U”
Del Med J | January 2018 | Vol. 90 |
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